Irvine was already under pressure from his main rivals, the McLaren team, as he only took third position in the qualifying round on Saturday.

Reigning Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen took advantage of Schumacher's absence after he broke his leg at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, to snatch pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix.

But at the start of the Austrain race Hakkinen lost his advantage when he momentarily spun off the track.

In the qualifier Hakkinen's team mate David Coulthard took second position.

Brake problems

In the Sunday morning warmup for the 71-lap race at the A1-Ring in the Styrian Alps, Irvine was seventh, almost a second behind Hakkinen.

Irvine blamed the gap on brake problems. He started the race in the second row, at 1:11.973, alongside German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in a Jordan-Mugen Honda, (1:12.266).

Irvine said the problems prevented him from making his usual commitment to corners.

He said: "My brakes were inconsistent. One lap, I would lock the fronts and the next lap it would be the rears. If you look at the section times, the gap is not so big and as this problem with the brakes does not happen in race conditions I am confident for the race."

Hakkinen was forced to switch from his preferred car to the team's spare chassis during the Saturday afternoon session, but quickly opened up a decisive gap.

He said: "It is always satisfying to take pole but it is important now, at this time of the year, for us to stay in a strong position and not to relax.

"It was not easy today. For me, in the spare car, there were a lot of small problems and adjustments to deal with."

Coulthard, who looked set for his first pole in 13 months, made it a double on the front row for McLaren-Mercedes by timing 1min 11.153 to Hakkinen's 1:10.954.

Mika Salo of Finland, deputising for Schumacher, timed 1:12.514 to start his Ferrari from the fourth row.

Both Hakkinen and Coulthard, who were unofficially confirmed as remaining with the team for next season by Mercedes-Benz chief Norbert Haug on Saturday, hinted the race will be a private duel between the two of them.

Schumacher, who broke his leg in a crash at Silverstone, is expected to be out for six weeks - effectively ending his chances of securing the drivers championship.