Canadian GP Jaguar Friday notes

Jaguar Racing enjoyed a good first day of practice for Sunday's Canadian GP. Bolstered by the team's first helping of points in Monaco a fortnight ago, Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert were both at the sharp end of the field throughout the day.

Johnny eventually edged ahead and finished an excellent fourth, ahead of double world champion Mika Hakkinen. And while nobody knows what fuel loads the others were running, Johnny definitely did not have the advantage of switching to a new set of tyres. In other words, it was a genuinely impressive performance.

"We always seem to be able to keep more ahead of the track changes than the others," said Johnny. "I think that was the good thing today, so that was encouraging. I always seem to have done relatively okay here, and I have done well in the past. It's a track where it's important to get the right balance. You can lose a lot of time if you haven't got it."

Johnny says he is not even worried about the prospect of rain, which has been proved an ever-present threat in Montreal so far this week.

"We'll have to see what the weather does tomorrow morning. If it is wet it's not a bad thing for us, but we should be okay in the dry with the set-up we've got at the moment."