Ferrari crash-dive from elation to deflation in two short hours

For a while it looked like the perfect riposte delivered at the perfect time. Seemingly sunk by mishaps and mismanagement at the Nurburgring, Ferrari yesterday delivered a masterclass in strategy and planning at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix.

Eddie Irvine, lying two points adrift of Mika Hakkinen in the title race, and watching his world championship bid fade, had begged for help. He wanted Michael Schumach er back, he wanted improvements from the team. He got both.

But while Schumacher's aid came in the shape of a perfect drive in the unfamiliar role of second fiddle, Ferrari's contribution was later deemed illegal and resulted in both Irvine and Schumacher being disqualified.

From a champagne-fuelled admittance that the title was within his grasp to the realisation that Hakkinen was being classified the winner and thus champion, there were just two short hours. Elation to deflation in a little over race distance.

The dismay was compounded by the memory of the supreme control Ferrari had exercised on the race. Schumacher, starting from pole and flanked by Irvine, made the perfect start, soaring through the first corner and towing Irvine into a solid comfort zone, building a gap to the McLarens that allowed Schumacher to swing wide and let Irvine into the lead.

With the Irishman placed where he wanted him, the German glanced back towards the advancing David Coulthard and planned the best way to defuse the threat. It worked briefly, but when Coulthard sneaked through with a daring move that left parts of Schumacher's front wing on the track, it seemed sure Irvine would be reeled in.

Irvine felt the pressure for nine laps before fate intervened and Coulthard cruised to a halt, his charge stalled by electrical problems.

Irvine sailed on, performing a delicate balancing act of keeping pace while cautiously negotiating the new Sepang circuit in a car he later said was "very twitchy" and difficult to keep on track.

Four-and-a-half seconds back, Schumacher was holding off Hakkinen, and the Finn could find no way past. For the remaining 41 laps the two jousted through Sepang's 15 corners, a battle that left the then luckless Hakkinen fighting for breath on the lowest step of the podium and branding the race as the toughest he had ever encountered.

While Schumacher was providing Irvine with a secure defensive blockade, Ferrari's Ross Brawn was reinforcing the ramparts with a strategy that saw Irvine stop twice and Schumacher, running on the same, fast-degrading, extra-soft Bridgestone tyres, only enter the pits once.

The strategy almost looked like ending in disaster when Hakkinen, after his first stop, stayed out longer than was reckoned possible by Ferrari and, in the lead and with Irvine third, the prospect of the Finn winning on a one-stop strategy loomed into disbelieving view.

But on the pit wall, McLaren technical director Adrian Newey was casting anxious glances at the timing screens. Five laps later Hakkinen dived into the pitlane and, as the McLaren was reshod and refuelled, Irvine swept past into second and eventually again the lead as Schumacher slowed and dipped away to let the Irishman through.

Relegated to fourth by a stop which also let Stewart's Johnny Herbert sneak through, Hakkinen looked beaten. But the Finn drew on the reserves that made him champion last year and forced the Englishman into error.

But it was too little too late. Despite clawing his way back to within eight seconds of Irvine, the twin Ferraris cruised comfortably across the finish line to push the Italian outfit into a four-point constructors' championship lead and Irvine into a similar lead in the race for the drivers' title.

However, while Irvine and Schumacher were standing tall on the podium, receiving trophies and spraying champagne, race officials were ruling both cars illegal and preparing to strip Irvine of victory.

The hurt could be intensified at Suzuka. If the appeal is dismissed, Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen will move up the classification to fourth, moving him onto 53 points and within sight of overhauling Irvine for second place in the championship.

Yesterday the German, who started from a lowly 14th on the grid, said his then single point was the hardest he had earned. The three he stands to earn if the stewards' findings are upheld could be his easiest and the source of even more dismay for Irvine.