Eddie Irvine finally stepped onto the top of the rostrum after his 82 Grand Prix start. Since his debut in the Japanese Grand Prix in 1983, the 33-year old Ulsterman from Newtonards had always been the bridesmaid, never the bride. He had finished second four times: in Japan, Italy and France last year and in Argentina the year before.

In Grand Prix circles, it's common knowledge that Eddie drives to orders, that he is very much the number two driver to Michael Schumacher. It's a situation he accepts with resignation but good grace. Every driver wants to win, but he is driving for the greatest team in Grand Prix racing and no doubt he?s being well-rewarded for it.

So, the end of his winning drought was certainly sweet. "It's great to finally get it out of the way," admitted Eddie. "There are a few races in the past I could have won but didn't. It's nice to get that cloud that's been hanging over me out of the way. I had a good feeling about Australia. I thought I would win a race this year, and sooner rather than later seemed a good thing."

Eddie and his engineer, Luca, were left to their own devices in terms of set-up, tyres and strategy and things mainly worked out their way. "I was very convinced about the way we wanted the car to be," says Eddie. "We tried a couple of things and they reinforced my thoughts of how I wanted fundamental things on the car set. I was very happy with the car in the race. In the second part of the race I didn?t really have to push, I could have won by ten seconds if I wanted to, but there was no point.

"Ross (Brawn) let me and Luca do what we wanted. He asked what we were doing and we told him and he asked why and he seemed to be fairly happy with what we were doing. He had quite an input on the strategy. Luca wanted to go for one stop and Ross did too. I wanted to go for two stops and race the McLarens but we wouldn't be able to if we opted for one stop. As it was, we went for one which was just as well because if we had been on two stops, we probably wouldn't have won the race because of the pace cars, so I owe them that. They convinced me to go on the one stop strategy, which was quite fundamental in winning the race."

Eddie, however, admits that his win has changed some things but not others. "Yes, I'm sure that I'm still the second driver. One swallow does't make a summer, as we say at home. Michael is still the focus of the team. It's in my contract that I have to move over and let him through, and it's in his contract, I'm sure, that I have to let him through if he's behind me.

"Obviously what happened in Melbourne was ideal. I have two loyalties; one for me and one for the team and if he is behind me I have to let him through and I have to abide by that. It would be nice for me if he didn't finish the next race and I won again. It would be difficult to cry. I couldn't pretend that I wouldn't be happy in that situation. I don't think they would expect me to get really pissed off because I kept winning races."

But what really are the chances for Ferrari this year and how good is the F399? "It's a very good car, it's the best balanced Formula One car I've ever driven. It's not fast enough, we saw that in Melbourne, but the balance isn't the problem, we need a bit more aerodynamic load, a bit more power and perhaps a bit less weight. We just need to improve in every area. You can't say that McLaren is better in one area; it's probably a little bit better in a lot of areas, as opposed to being a lot better in one area. We're going to be working in every department to try and close the gap."

How do you see it for everyone else? "McLaren are out in front at the moment by a considerable amount and then you've got us probably ahead of the rest, but the rest are very close to us: the Jordans, the Stewarts and the Williams was pretty good as well. Zanardi had a tough time, but it's early days for him. I can see those guys threatening us, so we?ve really got to get our act together and get closer to McLaren and get away from these guys who are snapping at our heels."

And what about Eddie Irvine's own form, more particularly your back which gave you so much trouble last year? "My back was actually a bit sore at the top after the race which I didn't notice until much later in the day. The lower back problem which I suffered last year wasn't there. It's a very new seat. We made a comfortable seat, but I was too high in the car, but it was only a day old in Melbourne. I never had a chance to make it perfect, but we understand how to fix the problem now."

Has the excitement of your victory sunk in? "Sunk in and gone," he says abruptly. "I?m thinking about the next one. Brazil's the important one now. Melbourne is finished, gone. Now it's Brazil. If I win that, that will be nice. If I finish on the podium, that will be good too. Now I feel more confident, but obviously McLaren is going to be difficult to beat there. They obviously have problems; even before the race they were confused. So hopefully that will continue and we can continue being reliable and hopefully we can have a bit of a gap to them."

Does Eddie feel a richer driver now? "I feel a less pressured driver. I always knew how to win. I was leading quite easily in Japan, for instance. I was quite comfortable, there was no way I wasn?t going to win the race but obviously I had to slow down and let Michael through.

"Some people seem to have pressure when they lead a race. Honestly, I was driving around Melbourne and it was quite easy. I never put a foot wrong, I was bang on line every time. I was quite happy. I was working out my speech. When you're driving a car like that, you get into a rhythm, you don't even have to think what you're doing, you can think of lots of other things. And I wasn't pushing that hard anyway."

Many people win again immediately after their first victory; what are your honest chances? "Normally, when people win their second race quite easily after their first it's because the reason they won their first was because they were in a very competitive car which gives them the opportunity to win their second race. Hopefully, I'm in that position when I get to Brazil. If it hadn't been for McLaren (retiring), I wouldn't have won. That's quite obvious. If McLaren finish in Brazil, it will be tough to beat them. It will be a case of having to get ahead of them at the start and holding them up, if they have the pace that they had in Melbourne."

So can Eddie relax and have some fun now? "Personally, I've got some PR things to do for Marlboro, for Shell. I've got to go up with Red Arrows (RAF display team) which I'm not looking forward to at all. I'm sure whoever is going to be flying it is going to make sure that I'm sick, because I would if it was the other way around. We've got to go testing in Barcelona and test the new anti-spray tarmac at Monza. Then we have Fiorano and Mugello and my Mum's 60th birthday party which should be a good giggle."

And on to Brazil... What is Eddie Irvine contemplating? "I'd like to get a good result in Brazil so that we're leading the World Championship as we go to Imola, the home of Ferrari. My confidence would improve, my driving would improve and we could see something spectacular this year. But there are a lot of guys out there who are going to try and make life difficult for me."