Austrian GP Jaguar Friday notes

Jaguar Racing began its build-up to this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix by testing various tyre compounds and working on car set-up. Today's two, one hour Free Practice sessions were very much a learning process for the team with Michelin providing a new ul tra-soft tyre compound for this weekend. Both drivers experienced trouble-free sessions although Pedro de la Rosa was slightly hampered by a misfire in the second session.

Eddie Irvine Position: 12th Laps: 43 Best time: 1.12.346 Chassis: R2-04

"It was a productive session, but I think we'll struggle here more than we did in Barcelona. We achieved our job list today and we have a clear picture of what needs to be done. We are certainly not as quick as we'd like, but this isn't a surprise given th e aerodynamic limitations of the car at the moment. Our new aero package has now been brought forward to Monaco and in the meantime, we'll just have to accept the fact that we are too slow. We have a good handle on the tyres and we know what compound we'll use for tomorrow. For qualifying, I expect to take my usual place on the grid which at the moment is around 12th position."

Pedro de la Rosa Position: 15th Laps: 48 Best time: 1.12.847 Chassis: R2-03 T-Car chassis: R2-05

"It was an interesting session in that we tried different tyre compounds and learnt a lot. The main aim for me today was to figure out which tyre to use for qualifying and we did that. I suffered from a minor misfire problem that didn't help but it's not s omething that can't be resolved. The work we did at the Valencia test last week seems to have carried through quite well -- particularly as this circuit is very tough on tyres. The circuit is also very slippery and tyre choice is critical. You can use scrub bed fronts or brand new tyres and the results can actually be unusual here."

Bobby Rahal, Chief Executive Officer & Team Principal

"The team worked through an extensive job list this morning which was heavily biased towards tyre evaluation. Both drivers have decided on tyres for tomorrow and their choice is unanimous. There is obviously still some way to go before we are content with our performance and I hope to see the rewards of our hard work very soon. Eddie has been very upbeat about our new aero package for Monaco but aero upgrades will be implemented by most of the teams around the time of Monaco and Canada, so we'll have to see how effective our work away from the track has been in relation to the other teams. I'm not expecting any miracles this weekend apart from a good, solid team performance which I hope we can translate into points very soon indeed."

-Jaguar