Irvine: There's a Lot of Work to Do

Eddie Irvine claimed his Jaguar team need to work on his car's aerodynamic efficiency in order to fight for the points at Sunday's European Grand following a disappointing performance in today's qualifying.

Jaguar had scored points in the last two races in Monaco and Canada, but Irvine was unable to shine on Saturday as he qualified in twelfth place almost 1.5 seconds off the pace. The Irishman said he could have gone quicker but admitted there was still a lot of work to do before the race.

"There was maybe another tenth to be squeezed out of my qualifying time but no more," Irvine claimed. "The team worked very hard overnight and this morning in an effort to better adapt the car to this circuit, but we still have a fair deal of work to do in terms of aerodynamic efficiency.

"Contrary to what we thought yesterday, the Michelin tyres are not the problem. We have, however, closed the gap with our key competitors like Jordan, BAR and Sauber."

Teammate Pedro de la Rosa was too unhappy with his car, the Spanish driver struggling for front end grip at the German circuit. At the end, de la Rosa was 16th quickest.

"I'm not happy with my qualifying performance," de la Rosa said. "My main problem is understeer that is manifesting itself badly through turns three and four where I was sliding around a lot.

"Finding grip is my biggest issue here and, as the Williams have proved, it's not the tyres. There is probably a better set-up to be found and refined. The aerodynamic package is better than before but I am not getting the best out of the whole car."