De la Rosa Hopes Irvine Leaves Jaguar

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa has heavily criticised his Jaguar teammate Eddie Irvine, and revealed he is hoping the outspoken Ulsterman will not drive for the Milton Keynes-based squad next season.

De la Rosa, in his second year alongside 36-year old Irvine at Jaguar, said their relationship deteriorated throughout the year, and revealed that, by the end of the season, they didn't even talk to each other.

"Working with Irvine has been the worst part of the season," de la Rosa told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser in an interview. "He's very inconsistent with his decisions and it's very hard to work with him, especially when things are going wrong.

"When things are going right everybody is happy, but when things go wrong you have to be united, and that has been very hard with him. We hardly talked at the start of the season, and as the races went by we stopped talking to each other.

"In the final races we didn't even look at each other's eyes."

Asked if he thought the Irishman will continue with Jaguar next year, de la Rosa added: "Well, I'm not the one responsible for this, but as far as I know he won't. I hope he won't."

De la Rosa, who this season failed to score a point with the struggling Ford-owned team, has a contract with Jaguar until the end of 2003, while 36-year old Irvine, the oldest driver of the current field, is still to announce his plans for next year.

The Irishman said he was hoping to race in Formula One in 2003, and rumours have linked him with the Jordan team.