Agathangelou defends 'solid' approach

Jaguar began the 2002 season at the tail of the grid and the 31-year-olod knows the team, cannot afford another year like that, which is why he has opted for a safety first approach in the concept of the R4.

"It'll be a solid, sensible car," he said. "That might sound a bit staid, but that's because 'solid' and 'sensible' aren't sexy words. Well, I'm sorry, but that's what R4 needs to be. It needs to be a solid and sensible base that we can develop throughout 2003 and into 2004 and beyond - because we can't keep junking everything at the end of every year and starting from scratch again, which to an extent is what happened between R2 and R3.

"We want R4 to be a rigorously specced car, with no anomalies It'll be a platform on which to build and develop," added Agathangelou. "So I'm not going to tell the media, 'Come and see the swoopy bits I've designed! Aren't they lovely?' I'm more likely to say, 'There's our car. It's sensible and solid. It does what it says on the tin.' Now we're gradually going to make it better and better."