Eddie relying on McLaren favours

Irvine has generally been off the pace of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, but is still in the title race because of McLaren's reliability problems.

In an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT magazine, the Ferrari man said, 'The championship is slightly out of our hands.

'We have to rely on the guys up the road abit. But lots of championships have been won by other guys screwing up.

'Any way you it [doesn't matter], as long as you win it.'

Irvine has found himself back in second place in the title race after two concsecutive victories in the Austrian and German Grands Prix, but Irvine's determined the fight's not over.

'We've got to hang on. We are not going to be on pole for the next few races and drive off into the distance.

'We've just got to make sure that when they score, we score and when they don't, we do.'

'I've won three races, and that's nice. But I forget about that. I think: 'Shit, how am I going to beat these bloody McLarens.''