Monday October 18th, 1999

Eddie Irvine was today recovering from the rigors of yesterday's Malaysian Grand Prix with a quiet day in Macau, the tiny Portuguese enclave 40 miles west of Hong Kong where he used to live.

Even so, it's been a busy 24 hours. He took the chequered flag at 15.38 local time, his fourth victory of the year after a very tough race. His voice revealed the fatigue suffered in 31 degree heat, and considerable humidity.

After being presented with his winning trophy by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir, Eddie went to the post-race TV unilateral interview, and then into the post-race press conference, all the time believing that he had won ten points in his World Championship bid.

In spite of the victory, he still intended to fly on to Macau and indeed, soon after six on Sunday evening, he was taxiing down the runway at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in his Falcon 10 when his mobile phone rang to reveal that there was a technical problem.

It was only when he landed at Bangkok to refuel that he was told that he had been disqualified, but that the Ferrari team intended to appeal. It was bad news, but Eddie took it very philosophically. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens," was his only comment.

Eddie continued to Macau, arriving late last night at Macau's relatively new international airport and checking into one of the hotels that he used to stay in when he was racing in Formula Three at the Macau Grand Prix.

It's been slightly overcast and a little cool today, as Eddie rediscovers what is an old stamping ground: he used to live here when he was racing in Formula 3000 in Japan in the early nineties. Tomorrow, the Marco Polo tour resumes with a visit to Hong Kong.