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The 1993 Japanese Grand Prix was Ayrton Senna's penultimate race for McLaren and Eddie Irvine's debut race for Jordan. The drivers started their race with different objectives, one for a win and another for a good point finish. However, their on-track clash changed everything and it led Senna to land a punch on Irvine, Michael Schumacher's future teammate.
After qualifying in P2, Senna started the race behind pole sitter Alain Prost, his long-time championship rival. The late Brazilian, from lap one was pushing for a victory. On the other hand, Irvine qualified in P8 and had a great start that saw him improve to P5 in no time.
However, Prost and Senna pushed ahead like no other and left everyone else behind. In doing so, they lapped almost the entire field and reached a place where they had to lap Jordan's Irvine. However, passing the British driver turned out to be a tumultuous exercise for the three-time F1 world champion.
As Senna lapped Irvine and went his way, he found himself unlapped soon after by Irvine, who was racing Damon Hill. Irvine felt that the McLaren driver was not fast enough, and as a result, he chose to unlap himself.
A few moments later, Senna lapped Irvine once more and tried to pull out, but was unlapped by Irvine again. This made the late Brazilian furious as he reportedly lost 15 seconds of the lead to Alain Prost due to their constant wheel-to-wheel tussles.
After the race, Senna went straight towards the Jordan garage to confront Irvine. After a few verbal exchanges, the former landed a punch on Irvine, triggering disciplinary action from the FIA.
Ayrton Senna won the Suzuka race ahead of Prost and Mika Hakkinen, while Irvine finished in P6. Prost claimed the F1 title that year and beat Senna by 26 points. After three years at Jordan, Eddie Irvine moved to Ferrari and became Michael Schumacher's teammate in 1996.
Gerhard Berger 'aggravated' the Ayrton Senna-Eddie Irvine situation
Eddie Jordan, the owner of the now-defunct Jordan F1 team, once opened up about the Ayrton Senna-Eddie Irvine scuffle. Speaking about this on the Formula For Success podcast with David Coulthard, the former F1 team boss revealed that it was Senna's then-teammate Gerhard Berger who 'aggravated' the fight.
Here is what he said:
"Gerhard, just looking for aggravation, which is second nature to him, he kept saying to him, you need to go down and see that Irvine. It's only his first ever Grand Prix, and he dared to unlap himself, and he passed you for sixth place in his first ever Grand Prix. I wouldn't be putting up with that, you need to go and teach him a lesson."
"So hey, Ayrton comes down, entered the Jordan garage, and he started talking to Irvine. Irvine totally ignores him knowing exactly who he is. You know Ayrton was getting ratty about this guy, 'Does he not realize who I am?' sort of thing, and he just lashed out and gave him a smack!" added Jordan.
Ayrton Senna faced a tragic death in 1994 during the San Marino Grand Prix when he hit the concrete wall at high speed. He suffered fatal injuries and succumbed at the age of 34. Eddie Irvine, on the other hand, went on to race till 2002 and retired after the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix.
