Irvine happy with position

The battle between the two McLaren drivers limited the damage and he now heads to Ferrari's home race at the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time a point down on Mika Hakkinen and in second place in the championship.

Had it not been for David Coulthard's surprise victory Irvine could be another four points behind in the title chase.

His Ferrari was puzzlingly uncompetitive all weekend but a lightening start leapt him from sixth to fourth at the start and he stayed there to the finish.

'We did better that we could have expected,' said the Ulsterman.

'Considering our situation today I am happy that I am only one point behind the new leader in the championship as I thought it could be a bigger gap.

'We have not been fast enough all weekend and it was very hard to do good lap times in the race.

'We have to continue to fight for points and not give up until the end of the season. This was actually a good result for me. Thanks to a good start and a goodstrategy we managed to keep position and pick up a few points.

'I think we should be more competitive at Monza than here but McLaren are also sure to be very strong.'

Irvine has 59 points and Hakkinen 60 with Coulthard on 46 and Frentzen, third today, on 40 with 40 points to play for in the remaining four rounds.