Ulsterman Eddie Irvine finished third in the Jaguar behind the Ferrari duo of Rubens Barichello and Michael Schumacher at today's Italian Grand Prix. It was a dream one-two for Ferrari in their home race as Barichello came home 0.2 seconds ahead of world champion Schumacher, who has set yet another record after taking his season tally to 128 points, beating the mark of 123 he set last year.
Jarno Trulli finished fourth despite starting from the back of the grid after getting off late for the formation lap with outgoing team-mate Jenson Button fifth - his first point in four races. Olivier Panis was sixth for British American Racing while David Coulthard took seventh having dropped to the back of the field when forced to make a first lap pit-stop for a new front wing.
However, it was Irvine who wore the biggest smile of the afternoon as he finished in the points for the second successive race and secured his team's first podium spot since he finished third behind the two Ferraris in Monaco last year.
Barrichello's third victory of the season - it was Ferrari`s 13th in 15 races - and the fourth of his career virtually guarantees him second place in the drivers' championship behind Schumacher. The Sao Paulo-born driver leads Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya by 17 points with just the United States and Japanese Grands Prix left.
Montoya, who qualified in pole position yesterday, retired with a suspension problem when lying third while his Williams-BMW team-mate Ralf Schumacher suffered a blown engine on lap five after he had snatched the lead on the opening lap.
Afterwards, Barichello admitted he was overwhelmed by the supporters at the podium. "I don't think we are ever going to experience anything like that again. As far as my eyes could see there were people, it was amazing," he said. Schuamcher added: "This was the result we dreamed of. To look out from the podium and see so many people, it is an amazing emotion. They support us and hopefully we gave something back to them. It was clear that we were going to break the season's points record. We can be happy with what we achieved this year."
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
