All weekend in Austria, the demands, warnings, tantrums and traumas had seemed like so much empty rhetoric. On Friday, Eddie Irvine finished the day ninth but still maintained that his lap times weren't an issue. By Saturday, he wore the morose look of a man haunted by the possibility that a heavy price was about to be exacted for months of hubris.

By yesterday afternoon, Irvine had not only dodged the bill but had rifled the till as well. With a startling display of grit, determination and control the Ulsterman shouldered the weight of expectation and scrapped his way to his second career grand prix win, holding off McLaren's David Coulthard and securing 10 invaluable for a Ferrari team struggling to recover from the temporary loss of the injured Michael Schumacher.

Starting from third on the grid, Irvine got away well but was closed out by the converging McLarens of pole-winner Mika Hakkinen and second-placed Coulthard. The race could have entered a familiar pattern of McLaren dominance, but seconds later the script was thrown out as David Coulthard, attempting to manoeuvre past his team-mate succeeded only in shunting Mika Hakkinen onto the grass and out of contention.

"Today was my nightmare scenario," said a dismayed Coulthard afterwards. "Not only did I take my team-mate off at turn two but we came second to our opposition. I'm very sorry for what happened with Mika. I completely misjudged the second corner of the race and hit Mika spinning him round. It has just been a disastrous day."

It could also have been disastrous for Irvine, as, tucked in behind Coulthard, he was unable to capitalise on Hakkinen's spin and was passed in the melee by the Stewart of Rubens Barrichello. Laden with fuel, Irvine looked to be slipping from contention as Coulthard streaked away and Barrichello eked out a healthy gap, but with 38 laps gone, the Stewart entered the pits and Irvine seized his chance. With Coulthard stopping for fuel and tyres a lap later, Irvine began to pile on the pace, building a cushion of time which by the 44th lap was just enough to see him pit and rejoin the race in front of Coulthard.

"The car was set up to be quick on used tyres," explained Irvine's engineer, Luca Baldisseri afterwards, "and at the end of his first stint it worked well because it gave us seven or eight laps more than the opposition before we had to stop for fuel. It was in those laps that we were able to build up the gap that allowed Eddie to come out ahead of Coulthard. In the second stint Eddie managed - just - to keep Coulthard behind him. I think we can say it happened just as planned."

That second stint was as nerve wracking an episode of racing as has been seen all season, as Irvine struggled with fading tyres and brakes and Coulthard closed in for an apparently easy kill. But he hadn't reckoned with Irvine's doggedness and for 27 laps the Ulsterman battled back markers, edgy machinery and the attentions of the Scot to take his first victory as Ferrari number one.

For Mika Salo, who had delivered a capable seventh in qualifying the race proved a harsh baptism as in the wake of the McLaren's accident at turn two he too suffered a shunt running into the back of the heavy braking Johnny Herbert, a smash that dislodged the Stewart's rear wing. Running over the debris the Finn damaged his front wing and had to make an immediate stop for a new nose, an unnecessary stop which dropped the Ferrari new boy to the rear of the field. He clawed his way back to ninth but confessed that he was less than pleased with his performance. "I am not happy with the result," he said. "However, my speed over the weekend was okay, even though I made a couple of mistakes. I learned a lot today and at the next race in Hockenheim, I know that I have to score points to help Ferrari in the championship and I do think that's possible."

While Coulthard described his day as a disaster a two-three finish for McLaren at least offered the consolation prize of maintaining the two-point gap to Ferrari in the constructors' championship. Hakkinen later gracefully accepted his team-mate's apologies and added that their combined 10-point haul was "very important".

Further down the grid it was a solid, if uninspiring day for Jordan. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had secured his best qualifying position of the season with fourth place on Saturday could make up no ground in the race and was only able to secure those three points when Barrichello retired with a blown engine.

"We were not quick enough today, but we came away with more points, which is important," said team owner Eddie Jordan. "We're maintaining our target of third place and Heinz-Harald is building on his championship position."

Damon Hill could only manage 10th place, a swift return to earth after the high of fifth in Silverstone two weeks ago.

"It all went wrong in the first lap really," he said. "I lost a couple of places in the first two corners and then lost about five places because Herbert's rear wing came off and I went the wrong side of him."

The immediate horizon holds some promise for the team though. Running a new development of their Mugen Honda engines in testing at Monza last week, Frentzen outpaced even the mighty McLarens and with the design specifically tailored for next week's Hockenheim outing, the German can be hopeful of staying with the top three and possibly scoring a podium place.