Tuesday October 19th, 1999

Eddie Irvine took the 16 minute helicopter ride from Macau to Hong Kong today to spend the morning visiting some of the sights of the former British colony, and to talk about his situation in the World Championship.

On arrival in a rather overcast if warm Hong Kong, Irvine went straight to the legendary Star Ferry which crosses from Hong Kong island to Kowloon on the mainland where he was filmed and did an interview. His mood is good and positive and he still feels that he has a good chance of clinching the championship in Japan, if the Court of Appeal's decision is favourable on Friday.

"Everything went pretty much according to plan," said Eddie of last Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix. "We were qualified where we wanted to be, made the starts we wanted to make, Michael did the race he was planning and I did the race I was plannning and we finished first and second.

"Perfect. Except for the little aggro [aggravation] we had after the race, which I think we can maybe still sort out. I don't think it's a very sporting way to finish the championship and even Mika Hakkinen has admitted that. I don't think he wants to win the championship the way he has at the minute.

"You have to believe that the FIA is going to do the right thing, so we have to wait until Friday to see." After that, Eddie flew back to Macau for another relaxing afternoon. He still intends to leave Macau on Friday for Japan as planned.