Eddie Irvine drove the race of his life yesterday and in the ultimate gesture of support for a team-mate, waved Michael Schumacher through into the lead of the Japanese Grand Prix, a lead the German held to the chequered flag. Irvine finished third after a strong, flawless drive which greatly strengthens his position in Ferrari.

With Jacques Villeneuve finishing fifth, Schumacher's win leaves him at most one point behind the French Canadian with everything depending on the final race in Jerez.

From pole, Villeneuve did the classic chop across the front of Michael Schumacher as the cars powered off to the first corner but the reply from Ferrari did not take

long. But it was to come not from Schumacher but Eddie Irvine. The Irish Suzuka expert, who started third on the grid, talked about his race strategy afterwards.

"We knew Jacques would try and hold Michael up and that's exactly what he did. I was fourth when on the second lap the opportunity came to go past Hakkinen and I got past Michael at the same time," he said of the overtaking move of the season.

Irvine then went after Villeneuve and he quickly had the Ferrari on the William's' gearbox.

"He tried to block me but I got around the outside," he added of his decisive pass.

From then on the Dalkey-based driver simply disappeared into the distance. His first ever grand prix win looked there for the taking, except that the world drivers' championship was still up for grabs. "I enjoyed leading the race. The car felt really good and it was no problem. The team did a great job on both our pit stops and got Michael out ahead of Jacques," said Irvine.

On lap 22 Irvine "got the phone call" as he said himself and slowed to let Schumacher through.

"The championship is what's important. It was a pity it was at stake in this race but that's the way it goes," he said.

From then on he blocked Villeneuve, whose poor second pitstop dropped him to fifth. Eddie was in second place as the second round of pitstops began but at the end of them Frentzen managed to nudge himself out in front of the Ulsterman as he came out of the pitlane.

"It was all going to plan except for Heinz getting past. He moved onto the racing line which you should not do coming out of the pits".

At the post-race press conference Schumacher was generous in his praise of the Ulsterman: "Before the race Eddie had told me he might try and pass me at that point and it was quite funny when it happened. It was a very good manoeuvre. Thanks to Eddie we were in a good situation and he took care when he let me pass. It is thanks to him that I have this victory. "I have always said he is a great driver and a great team-mate. Those who have questioned his presence in the team next year have their answer."

Eddie Jordan had a very disappointing race at a track which should have suited the Jordan cars' high speed aerodynamics. However, Fisichella finished eighth and Ralf Schumacher tenth.

"The fact that we started from 9th and 13th and the cars in front ran reliability made our position difficult," said Eddie Jordan on the 20th anniversary of his own first international motor race (F3 in Silverstone). "It's unfortunate since it is so removed from the good performances we had been putting in."

The result means Jordan are 14 points behind McLaren in the constructors' championship and only a miraculous one-two at Jerez can pull them into fourth place in the final standings.

Schumacher's win means that if Villenueve's appeal against exclusion from the meeting for passing under the yellow in qualifying is upheld, the Canadian is one point ahead. If the appeal is rejected next week then Schumacher will climb point ahead of the Canadian. Either way it's all down to the wire in Jerez.