Eddie Irvine joined Arrows last Friday (12th March) but Scuderia Ferrari-Marlboro need not worry about losing their Australian GP winner, as this was not the Formula 1 team but the RAF's crack display team the Red Arrows.

The Irishman's feet had hardly touched the ground since winning his first ever grand prix in Melbourne and the Red Arrows made sure he stayed airborne even longer. After a medical examination and a trial flight to see if he was the Right Stuff, the 33 year old sat in the lead aircraft while the squad went through a 25 minute routine. Sadly the visibility at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire was not good enough for those on the ground to see it all, but Eddie enjoyed himself and wants another go.

"It was an amazing feeling but there was nothing that was worrying. The first time I took off, the plane did a sharp bank, but I wasn't scared. I was just totally lost and had no idea what was happening," he said once back on terra firma. Asked how it compared to a grand prix car, the answer was not at all: "It doesn't feel fast. It's amazing because you're feeling all these massive forces, but you don't know why, because you are in the middle of nowhere. Then all of a sudden, you cannot keep your hands up. Your hands go under your legs and your head starts getting pushed into your shoulders and there is nothing to tell you why that is happening. How the guys can fly it I don't know, because there is no feeling. I tried flying it there above the clouds - it is very difficult because you have no actual sensation of what is going on apart from the G forces and watching the horizons. It was very strange for me because I am used to getting reaction from the brakes, the noise of the engine. I can tell everything that is going on in a car. With this I think you have to be a lot more sensitive."

After the fun of flying, Irvine and the rest of the Ferrari squad get down to testing in Barcelona this week, before switching to southern Spain and the Jerez circuit in ten days time. Priority for the Italian team is to close the performance gap to McLaren before the Brazilian GP on 11th April. "I could go well in Sao Paulo," reckoned Irvine. "Things are changing this year. I have never even scored a point in Brazil before. I like the circuit. It is very bumpy and I have a good feeling. This car is a superb car, we just need to make it a bit faster. Speaking to Ross Brawn (Ferrari Technical Director), he is confident we have made it quite a bit faster. We still have more work to do. We are not going to close the gap in five weeks, but we are working in the right direction and have made a very big step forward. I am looking forward to seeing how close we are to McLaren."