Rahal plays down Jag chances...

Rahal took over as CEO of Jaguar Racing at the beginning of the year and since the launch of this year's car, the R2, he has been keen to play down the chances of the Milton Keynes-based squad, stressing that 2001 is a building season. However, he has seen his team move from the wrong end of the grid to consistent midfield runners halfway through the season.

"Since Monaco it's been very encouraging," said Rahal. "We continue to make progress, but we don't want to make too much of that because we still have a long way to go. It's great racing now with Jordan and BAR and being in the midst of that rather than being at the tail end of it.

"But that can change overnight. You can go back to the tail end awfully quickly. We take it one day at a time and work our hardest and we'll see what the results will be, but in the meantime we just have to keep our heads down."

Rahal added that expectation will be especially high this weekend as the Big Cat tries to purr again at its home race on Sunday.

"There is a lot of expectation at Silverstone," he said. "I find my job, more often than not, is trying to manage all those expectations, because much of it is a lot of hope and wishful thinking.

"It is nice being at home for the team, but there is a lot of pressure and a lot of expectation that comes with it that you'd probably rather not have to deal with, but that's part of it."

The British team currently lies sixth in the constructors' championship, just behind Jordan and BAR, with Eddie Irvine finishing third on the podium at the Monaco Grand Prix. They have notched up five points after 10 races this season, which is already more than last year's total of four points.