Retired F1 legend gets lifetime benefits after driving for Ferrari

Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News

Retired F1 legend gets lifetime benefits after driving for Ferrari

Eddie Irvine last drove for the team in 1999 but it still pays well

Chris Deeley

Monday 2 March 2026 23:30

Being a Ferrari driver seems like one of the most mixed blessings on the planet.

On the one hand, you get to drive for the single most iconic racing team on the planet, you get paid millions and millions of pounds, and...well, if you look good in red then you're absolutely sorted.

On the other hand...Ferrari.

Article continues under video

Given that, we were right on the fence about whether being a Ferrari driver is actually a good thing...until a post on social media from a retired F1 driver this week.

The kings of Italy

The driver in question was Jacques Villeneuve's old Williams team-mate Heinz Harald Frentzen, who shared a recent picture of himself and old rival Eddie Irvine.

"I have to admit," he wrote, "I am a bit jealous. Eddie told me he still have free food in all Italian restaurants he has been recognised (ex Ferrari Driver)."

That decides it at GPFans Towers. We can't even swing free sausage rolls at Greggs – getting recognised in all sorts of Italian restaurants and having your ossobuco comped? We'd like that.

Irvine was Michael Schumacher's first team-mate at Ferrari, arriving at the team in 1996 at the same time as the great German and sticking around for four years before a late career move to Jaguar.

The Northern Irishman won four races in those four years, all in the 1999 season in which he finished just two points behind Mika Hakkinen for the world championship, becoming the team's de facto number one driver for the year when Schumacher broke his leg in a crash at the British Grand Prix.

F1 HEADLINES: Mercedes power unit verdict as FIA make LATE change to 2026 rules

F1 Ferrari Heinz-Harald Frentzen Eddie Irvine