Manau dauguma zinote, kad tais metais Ferrari pilotais tapo Edikas ir MS, bet galbut nedaugelis atsimena kas nutiko Australijos GP kvalifikacijoje, o svarbiausiai - kas po jos...
“That first year was a nightmare. When I went to Ferrari I didn’t realise how geared the whole thing was to Schumacher. I don’t criticise him for that, but I totally underestimated how much the whole team was going to be focused on him, not only in racing terms but even down to hotel rooms and cars. For example, in Italy there are tolls on the motorways but you caan get electronic passes that let you through the barriers. Michael’s car had one of these passes and my car didn’t. It was like the first and second division whole time.”
Irvine got in the car for the first time in 1996 and outqualified Schumacher in Australia. He paid the price and wasn’t allowed to test for two months while Schumacher pounded around Fiorano – as Irvine ruefully remembers: “What you didn’t do was outshine Michael. After that I didn’t test the car for two months. I was the highest payed holidaymaker in Ireland, I just sat at home, played with my cars and bikes and saw my mates. It was frustrating, but what could I do?” What he didn’t do was moan, which is what has caused a great deal of friction between the team and Irvine’s replacement, Rubens Barrichello – Irvine knew how to play the game.
Istrauka is “Formula1 magazine”, June 2001 (vol 1, issue No4).
“Eddie the Great” autorius Jane Nottage, Enrico Zanarini produkcija (puslapiai 52-58).