Irvine blames de la Rosa for slow progress

Eddie Irvine believes that Jaguar team mate Pedro de la Rosa is partly to blame for the slow progress of the R3, because the Spaniard couldn't see anything wrong with the car. Jaguar has been beset with problems and has recently revised so many ...

Eddie Irvine believes that Jaguar team mate Pedro de la Rosa is partly to blame for the slow progress of the R3, because the Spaniard couldn't see anything wrong with the car. Jaguar has been beset with problems and has recently revised so many parts of the R3 that very little remains of the original chassis. Irvine thinks de la Rosa should have supported his opinion about changes that needed to be made.

Eddie Irvine.

Photo by Jaguar Racing.

"It has been a big problem for me because Pedro always said there was nothing wrong with the car and that it just needed more downforce," The Irishman told the British press. "If you look at the things we have had to change on the car, that clearly wasn't the case."

"If both of us had been agreeing from the very beginning, things would have happened a lot quicker. We lost two or three months because of that."

Irvine said his team mate just wanted more downforce, whereas he noticed there was much more wrong with the car than that: "I wanted the front suspension changed, pitch sensitivity and steering sensitivity reduced and Pedro just wanted more downforce. I wanted that too but there were much bigger issues. Luckily we did the things I said or we would still be in the shit."

A more experienced test driver is what Jaguar needs according to Irvine, someone who would notice problems and provide back-up: "The team needs a test driver desperately. You need someone backing you up when you are complaining."