Eddie Irvine
Eddie Irvine was born on the 10th November 1965 in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. At the age of 17 he had a go in his father's FF1600 car. Although his father raced for fun, Eddie started to compete in both the Irish and British FF1600 series. The early part of his career was funded by selling road cars but in 1987 he was given a works Van Diemen drive. In that season he took both the RAC and Esso titles as well as winning the Formula Ford Festival.

In 1988 Eddie moved up to British Formula 3 scoring 6 second places on the way to finishing 5th overall. In the Macau GP he took pole, fastest lap and a win in the first heat (beating Jean Alesi into second).

1989 saw a move to F3000 and after one awful season with Pacific he signed for Eddie Jordan's F3000 team where he finished 3rd overall with one race win. Again going to Macau seemed to bring him luck with the offer of a drive in Japanese F3000. It was here he stayed for the next 3 years before returning to Europe.

During 1992, in addition to Japanese F3000, he raced for Toyota at Le Mans (setting a new lap record) finishing 4th. The F3000 title would have been his but for a controversial decision that lost him valuable points and left him tied with another driver (who won due to having more wins).

In 1993 Eddie Irvine was reunited with Eddie Jordan when he competed in the final 2 rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship. In his first race a Suzuka he scored a single point finishing one just behind Rubens Barrichello and had his infamous encounter with Ayrton Senna. On the strength of this performance Eddie was signed for the 1994 season.

1994 turned out to be another season of trials for Irvine. Due to a piece of apparently careless driving he was given a one-race suspension. However, when Jordan Grand Prix appealed against this, the penalty was increased to 3 races. On his return bad luck seemed to be with him wherever he drove. At Le Mans (again with Toyota) mechanical problems dropped the team from first to fourth, but an inspired drive by Irvine close to the end of the race saw them take 2nd. Towards the end of the season his fortunes changed and a couple of points finishes left him 16th in the Drivers' World Championship.

The 1995 season, as for Rubens Barrichello, has so far proved to be tough for Eddie. The high point so far had to be the 3rd place he took at the Canadian GP, all three men on the podium looked genuinely overjoyed to be there (see Canadian GP issue for details).

Rubens Barrichello

Born 23 May 1972 in Sau Paulo, Brazil, Rubens Barrichello started his racing career, like most drivers, in karts. His first ever competition (the Sau Paulo Junior Championship at the age of nine) saw him take second place overall and started him on the road to Formula 1.

In 1983 he raced in, and won, the Brazilian Junior Karting Championship and the Sau Paulo Championship. In addition to this he was named 'Best Amateur Driver of the Year' by the Brazilian Olympic Committee and Sau Paulo's Best Driver' by the Sau Paulo Municipal Secretary of Sports, a great honour for a driver from the same city as Ayrton Senna.

1984 saw a repeat of the wins from 1984 and then in 1985 Rubens, by now thirteen, moved up to Class B karts. He came won the Sau Paulo competition and came 4th in the national, with the season highlight being a win at the 'Interlagos Tournament' to celebrate 25 years of karting in Brazil.

1986, 1987, and 1988 saw him racing in Class A karts, winning both Sau Paulo and National Championships all 3 years. 1987 also saw him win the South American 125cc Championship and finish 9th in the World Championship.

1989 heralded a move to single seaters for Barrichello (Brazilian Formula Ford) and the first year of a long partnership with Arisco, a Brazilian food company. Rubens finished 4th in that season and the following year moved to Europe and Formula Opel-Lotus. 6 wins, 7 poles and 7 fastest laps gave him the Championship and for the third successive year leapt up another formula to Formula 3.

A series of excellent drives (4 wins, 9 poles and 7 fastest laps) gave the championship to Rubens at his first attempt. From here the only way was up so once again he moved another step towards F1, this time to F3000. In the 1992 season he finished 4th overall and in November signed a 3 year contract with Jordan.

Over the next 2 seasons he showed the world how he had risen so quickly, impressing many with his mature attitude and driving (he is after all the youngest driver to ever get a pole position). In 1994 he gave both Jordan and himself their first ever pole position and podium position at the Belgian GP despite suffering the loss of a friend (Senna) and having a huge accident in qualifying at Imola.

This season, although dogged by bad luck, has now started to come good with 2 consecutive points finishes and a second place in Canada.

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