Irvine says team mate switch won’t hurt Jaguar

The 35-year-old Ulsterman admitted that he is sorry to see Luciano Burti leave the team for Prost Grand Prix, but is looking forward to working alongside new recruit Pedro de la Rosa from this weekend's Spanish GP.

"Usually, changing team mates in the middle of a season is not a good idea and can destabilise things," said Irvine. "But, in our case, Pedro has been with us for a while already. He understands the task at hand, so everything should go smoothly on that front.

"I was sorry to see Luciano go, as he brought a lot to the team. But I can understand his reasons for going," he added.

De la Rosa has said Irvine is the first man he is aiming to prove himself against on his return to racing, after being dumped from his Arrows drive before the start of the season.

"Before I try beating anybody this weekend, I must compete with Eddie," said the Spaniard. "As somebody with the same equipment as me, he is the benchmark that I must use before anybody else on that race track.

"I've spent a few days testing with him and he's very different from your average F1 driver - he's certainly a different character! I've never had a problem with my team mate and Eddie's no different. We must work well together and not against each other."