Tuesday August 31st, 1999

Ferrari Eddie Irvine believes Michael Schumacher will be back at Monza and will help him win the World Championship title. In his weekly column, Irvine states that, "If anyone can give McLaren a hard time it's [Michael]. He gets to them and I'm sure he will again, there is no better guy for that. I have no reason to believe he is not coming back to help me and that is great for myself and Ferrari as we fight for the drivers' and constructors' titles."

Irvine also conceded that Mika Salo has indeed blocked Williams' Ralf Schumacher at Spa last weekend - as Williams' Patrick Head claimed - saying: "Yes, [Ferrari] wanted him to stay in Ralf's way as long as possible. We're fighting for the world championship - I've had to do it, holding up Jacques Villeneuve for God knows how many laps in Japan to help out Michael Schumacher. It's nothing new and at least it added a bit of interest as it was not a very exciting race, but then it rarely is at Spa."

He also "thanked" David Coulthard for winning the Belgian Grand Prix - allowing him to be just one point behind Mika Hakkinen in the Championship. "I am very happy to be just a point behind today," Irvine writes. "It's great that David Coulthard won and took points off Hakkinen. The fact that McLaren let them race suits me. It may be a bit more sporting than the way we do it, channelling our efforts into one car, but we don't really have much choice. Maybe if we had a rocket like they have, we could afford to flaunt it a bit."

Schumacher is due to arrive at Monza tomorrow for some extensive testing, after which he will decide, along with his doctors, whether he will indeed race at Monza next week.