'I raced with Michael Schumacher and dated Pamela Anderson - then tripled my net worth'
Eddie Irvine is best known for his time in F1, where he raced for the likes of Ferrari and Jordan, but has also enjoyed a colourful personal life.
Former F1 driver Eddie Irvine is renowned for his high-speed lifestyle both on and off the track. The 59-year-old is best known for his four-year tenure with Ferrari, where he raced alongside Michael Schumacher. His most successful season was in 1999 when he secured four Grand Prix victories and narrowly missed out on the drivers' title.
Irvine first made a splash in the F1 world with Jordan in late 1993, causing a sensation by unlapping himself at the Japanese Grand Prix. This audacious move led to a notorious post-race confrontation with the legendary Ayrton Senna, who threw a punch at Irvine. After retiring from F1 in 2002, Irvine switched gears to build a prosperous property empire and date some of the world's most famous women.
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Among his romantic liaisons was Baywatch star Pamela Anderson. Whispers of their relationship began circulating in the mid-2000s when they were spotted together at one of Anderson's sons' Little League baseball games.
Despite their romance being short-lived, it appears the pair have remained close over the years, being seen together at the Amber Lounge Fashion Show during the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix. Irvine, who has a daughter with Maria Drummond, has also been linked to Liz Hurley, Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss and Manuela Arcuri.
Partnering Schumacher at Benneton and Ferrari during the 1990s and early 2000s proved comparable to being Max Verstappen's team-mate in the current era. The German legend utterly dominated every colleague he raced alongside at both teams.
Irvine therefore deserves recognition for enduring four seasons with the legendary outfit. His closest brush with championship glory came in 1999 when Schumacher broke his leg at the British Grand Prix and sat out most of the campaign.
Ferrari replaced him with Rubens Barrichello for 2000, prompting Irvine to tell the Independent: "God help Rubens!
"It will be a different story for me next season but at least I won't be up against Michael Schumacher in the same car every race. Partnering Michael is just like arriving at every race and getting hit on the head with a cricket bat for four days."
Whilst Irvine and Schumacher typically enjoyed a cordial working relationship, friction occasionally surfaced between them.
Prior to the 1999 Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher acknowledged a disagreement with Irvine, who had enjoyed an impressive start to that particular season.
Schumacher said: "We had a discussion, but we're human beings. We sometimes disagree and we had a disagreement. But we're human beings and we're adult enough to clarify such things very quickly. There is no further problem, so there is no further situation going on.''
Irvine had already accumulated considerable wealth through shrewd investments before his F1 career began. His generous Ferrari wages enabled him to expand his property empire further. During his four-year spell with the most prestigious team in F1, Irvine is said to have pocketed close to £60million.
He also banked a substantial sum during his less triumphant three-year period with Jaguar from 2000 to 2002. Irvine's wealth kept climbing after F1, thanks to shrewd investments both at home and abroad. In 2006, the Sunday Times valued his worth at £160m, placing him as the fifth richest person in Northern Ireland at the time.
Irvine has also amassed a fortune from the luxury property market in and around Miami, building lavish homes for the wealthy and celebrated. He once remarked: "What's happened there has been incredible. But then Miami is incredible. The houses I build in Miami, I build them as if I would live in them."
Irvine has lived in some palatial mansions, including one in Dalkey, near Dublin. The house was leased by Matt Damon and his family during the initial Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 when filming for The Last Duel was suspended.
Damon is believed to have paid nearly £1,000 per night to stay in the property, which Irvine sold for approximately £3m in 2021. However, Irvine wasn't rendered homeless as he owns multiple properties across Europe and the US.
