Irvine

SPIELBERG, Austria -- Ferrari were right to extend Rubens Barrichello's contract for two more years but Formula One might have been better off with a change, Eddie Irvine said.

The world championship winning team, the most glamorous in Formula One, announced at the Austrian Grand Prix on Thursday that the Brazilian would be staying at least until the end of 2004.

Barrichello will be 32 years old by then and four time world champion Michael Schumacher, whose deal is also due to expire that year, almost 36.

"It's in both their interests, otherwise they wouldn't have done it," said former Ferrari driver Irvine, who was replaced by Barrichello as Schumacher's teammate in 2000. "I think Rubens is hoping that probably Michael is going to get slower as he gets older. Ferrari want stability, they've got Michael, why change?.

"But I don't think it's particularly good for Formula One, that's the big downside," Irvine continued. "There's not a lot of moving around. I think we could do with a little bit more adventurism."

Schumacher has won four out of five races this season while Ferrari have looked dominant since they introduced their new F2002 car in Brazil in March.

"There's quite a few guys who, if you put them in the Ferrari, would do as good a job as Rubens or slightly better in some races and slightly worse in others," said Irvine.

"I think there's probably five or six others who are more than capable. But there's nobody in Michael's league, that's the big problem. I think Rubens is as good as anybody else out there. I've been his team mate, I know how good he is. He has his weak circuits and he has his stronger circuits."

Live and let dye
If Ralf Schumacher needed a motto, it would have to be 'Never Say Dye.'

The German driver, younger brother of Ferrari's world champion Michael, blushed at the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix when questioned about his new dyed blonde locks.

"It was simply an accident and the only way out...it's going to be changed soon," he told a news conference, a Williams cap covering most of the damage.

"Simply the haircutter -- I don't want to use the word -- made a mistake."

The new look caused a splash in the German media, with reporters distracted from more conventional motor racing issues by tints and highlights.

It also produced a wry smile elsewhere, with Michael's former teammate Eddie Irvine recalling a similar misfortune befalling the Ferrari driver.

"I remember Michael tried to dye his hair red in Malaysia one year. It turned out to be a mess so he was up all night washing it out," he said.

"There were still bits of red and all sorts (the next day) and he had a hat on all the time to hide it."

Another Lauda
Niki Lauda's younger son Matthias, managed by brother Luca, makes his race debut in Spain this weekend.

But Matthias cannot count on much hands-on help from the triple Formula One world champion when he turns out for his Formula Nissan race.

"I try to keep out of it because basically they both started doing it behind my back," said the Jaguar team principal at the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday.

"The further I stay away, I think the easier it is for these guys to establish their own way of doing it."

The younger Lauda is the latest in a line of racing sons of world championship winning fathers. Lauda senior was champion in 1975 and 1977 for Ferrari and 1984 for McLaren.

Briton Damon Hill (1996) is the only champion to be son of a champion -- Graham won the title in 1962 and 1968 -- while 1997 champion Jaques Villeneuve is son of the late title runner-up Gilles.

The list of modern Formula One champions to have racing sons includes South African Jody Scheckter, Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Australian Jack Brabham and Americans Mario Andretti and Phil Hill.