Monday October 18th, 1999

Eddie Irvine decided to break his silence and faced the media at Macau, where he is currently touring, to plea the FIA not to ruin his WC dreams. "I can't believe that they are taking the points and the leadership of the world championship away from me for something like that," said Irvine. "The punishment is too harsh compared to the crime. I'm relying on Ferrari's ability to defend themselves. As a driver, I can't make any appeals. All I can do is drive and say that the car was exactly the same as the one at the Nurburgring.

"It seems impossible to me to lose a world championship over a story like this. Everybody in Formula One knows that things like these give you little or no advantage at all. It was an oversight. I hope the judges decide that the punishment was too heavy. I'm convinced that, aside from the facts of what happened, the final decision will take account of people's good faith.

"I do not really see what else I can say until we have heard what the final decision is. But whatever the rights or wrongs of the situation it would be a shame if the championship ended this way."

Oddly enough, Mika Hakkinen stepped up to back Irvine's case, saying: "I don't really like it. It is not the way to win a title. It does not feel good to me. But the team does not want me to talk about this until after the hearing."

Irvine and Michael Schumacher, who also expressed disappointment at the FIA's decision, are now hoping that the FIA's Court of Appeals will at least reinstate the drivers' points, as was the case in Brazil 1995, when Schumacher - then in a Benetton - and David Coulthard - then in a Williams - were disqualified after finishing first and second respectively, because the fuel samples taken from their cars was found to be illegal. In that case, both teams appealed claiming the drivers could not have any knowledge of an innocent mistake made by the manufacturer or the team, and both drivers were indeed exonerated and their points reinstated.

According to Ferrari, the Malaysian GP disqualification is similar, in the sense that the cause for the infringement is a production fault rather than a design one, and therefore the drivers should not be penalised, especially not as severely.