Irvine: 'I can win it'

Eddie Irvine said he could race back into the lead of the championship with

victory in Sundays Spanish Grand Prix. The Ulsterman who won the opening race of the season in Melbourne,outqualified team leader Michael Schumacher to start the race from second
on the grid.

"If things go well I can see the top of the championship beckoning," he
said after Mika Hakkinen snatched pole and Schumacher starts fourth. 'I've had a couple of bad races which have cost me the lead of the
championship but these things always even out over the course of a year.'

Schumacher leads the championship, eight points ahead of Irvine but the
Ulsterman has signed a contract agreeing he will let Schumacher pass if
they are running 1-2 at the finish.

"I am not thinking about that at the moment. We do the start and then see
how it all pans out," he said. "I want to win. I won't be allowed to win unless there is a McLaren between
Michael and I or he breaks down.

It is only the fourth time in three and half years at Ferrari he has
outqualified the double champion.

But he was more pleased to have beaten Coulthard than is teammate and it
all rest on the 100 yard dash to the first bend - and there he has a
disadvantage because he is starting from the dirty side of the track.

"The start on that side is not ideal but I am good at starts," he said. "I am surprised how close we are to the McLarens. I think they have under
performed and we have over performed. They have come back to us and we have
gone forward. I think they are thinking more about reliability and maybe that cost them
a bit of time.

But for a mistake mid-way through his fastest lap Irvine said he could be
one pole position.

"Everyone is so close I just pipped them. At the bottom of the hill I lost
the rear end and it cost me pole.