British GP Jaguar Friday notes

Jaguar Racing spent today's two Free Practice sessions acclimatising its cars to the cold Silverstone conditions. The team worked through a programme of mechanical and aerodynamic set-up changes and focussed on scrubbing in its Michelin tyres for tomorrow's qualifying hour. Pedro de la Rosa was unable to participate in the morning session when a fuel pressure problem halted his car at Turn 3 on his first 'installation' lap but was able to run without problems in the afternoon session. Eddie Irvine had a trouble-free morning apart from a power steering failure that ended his afternoon session with ten minutes left to go.

Pedro de la Rosa
"I lost the morning session through a fuel pressure problem but it wasn't too much of a hindrance because we know this circuit well. The general set-up of the car feels good and we learnt a fair amount from the different tyre compounds we tried. Overall, I am pleased with how the Free Practice session went but we could certainly do with better weather and higher temperatures that would allow us to get more from the new package."

Eddie Irvine
"We made some good steps forward today and the new aerodynamic package is proving useful around this circuit. We said right from the start that this wouldn't be our strongest circuit, but I am more optimistic now than I was after the first session. We made some set-up changes to the car after the first session and it felt a lot better. We'll find out a lot more about the package tomorrow, especially if it's dry. It's too early to be making definitive statements about how we will perform, but I'm optimistic after today."

Bobby Rahal, CEO
"A nice summer day at Silverstone was always too good to be true! It was a shame for Pedro to have lost the morning session but as he correctly says, we have considerable experience of this circuit and the impact wasn't as bad as it could have been elsewhere. Both drivers completed a fairly lengthy job list in preparation for tomorrow, but we still have a few things to try out during tomorrow's warm-up sessions. The changing weather doesn't lend itself very well to planning and preparing for Qualifying, but I guess it's the same for everybody. A wet Qualifying hour may work for others, but it certainly won't do us any favours. There's still more pace to be had from the car, but it's an encouraging start so far."