Burti is Michelin's Top Man

Luciano Burti guided his Jaguar past the chequered flag in eighth place in Australia and despite not scoring a point had the distinction of being the best Michelin-shod finisher.

Brazilian Burti started from the back row of the grid and rose through the field as his team-mate Eddie Irvine, in the spare car, struggled past the flag in 11th.

"I was pleased with my start because I managed to overtake a few people on the first lap," Burti said. "I pushed very hard throughout the race and I'm very happy to have finished eighth.

"I'm very pleased to have found a workable set-up from which we can now move forward. We changed the brakes from this morning's warm-up and they felt much better."

Team-mate Irvine was forced to start the race in the spare car after his original car developed power steering problems before the race. Irvine spun off onto the grass at the start but recovered to finish 11th.

"It could have been better to be honest and it's never a good day if you don't finish in the points," Irvine said. "I had to use the spare car and it didn't get off the line as well as my race car.

"Juan Pablo Montoya tried to overtake me into turn three from a long way back and knocked me off but there will be no repercussions.

"I drove around an engine misfire for the latter part of the race and this also meant coming in for a late pit stop."