Irvine blames weather

(27-Sep-98) - Eddie Irvine believes that Ferrari's hopes of victory in the
Luxembourg Grand Prix were affected by the cooler temperatures which
greeted the teams ahead of the race.

The Ulsterman, who beat pole-position man Michael Schumacher away from the
line but gave way at the end of the opening lap, eventually finished
fourth.

"I made a very good start which was 50 per cent down to my clutch
working really well," he said. "Unfortunately, the understeer we
got rid of over the course of the weekend came back this afternoon.

"I could not have pushed harder or I would have gone off the track. My
tyres were suffering because of this and that made the problem worse.

"Mika caught me a little by surprise when he got past. He seemed to
close up very quickly in the last 150 metres before the chicane. I stayed
on the right hand side of the track but he managed to get by.

"But I think the cooler temperatures played against us as far as tyres
are concerned. But now we go to Suzuka, my favourite track and I think the
final race of the season will be fun."

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