Confident Irvine Refuses to Get Carried Away

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine believes the new Jaguar R3 is a step forward compared to last year's R2, but he has refused to get carried away and says that the team will only be able to see how competitive they are when they are measured against their rivals.

Irvine, who in last year's Championship finished in 12th position after scoring the first podium for the Milton Keynes team at the Monaco Grand Prix, will start his third year with Jaguar, and though he feels the new car is faster than the R2, he is refusing to be overconfident.

"In all the areas you need, this car is better," Irvine said. "The aerodynamics are better and it is lighter than last year's car. It's always difficult to say how well we are going to go, because you have to look at what everyone else is doing.

"You can say whatever you like now, but it won't really matter until you start qualifying and racing. You can get a feeling of what the car is like in testing, but you don't really know until you go up against everyone else."

Irvine and Spanish teammate Pedro de la Rosa will start testing the new car on Monday, as most of the Formula One teams travel to Barcelona for the first session of the year.