Jaguar still doubtful

Jaguar Racing may have had an unexpected points finish in Australia but the team are all too aware it was circumstances that led to it. After the first corner pile-up a rather startled Eddie Irvine discovered he was in a points scoring position, which he held on to the end of the race. The 2002 Jaguar challenger, the R3, has been beset by problems; aerodynamic gremlins that resulted in Technical Director Steve Nichols being hastily abandonded.

After the first Grand Prix of the season, Jaguar principal Niki Lauda was not under any illusions: "I'm happy that the car finished, so that the reliability was there," Lauda said. "Which was really all we could say that we were good for. Sure, it's better to come out of this as it is, but it's all you can say really. It does motivate me to make points. We're going to have a huge meeting next week."

The doubts over the R3 are so strong that a decision will be made after the Malaysian Grand Prix next weekend whether to continue with that chassis or revert to last year's R2. If the new car perfoms well it will have a stay of execution but Jaguar are in no way confident.

Nav Sidhu, PR representitive for the team, said Jaguar would replace the R3 with last year's car if neccessary. "We will run the R3 in Malaysia since it travels directly from Melbourne to Sepang," Sidhu said. "After that what we will do is still being considered. We have to understand what needs to be done to make the R3 competitive. If it is found that it is quite simply unfeasible we could use the R2 starting with the Brazilian Grand Prix."