De la Rosa: Jaguar 'Simply Too Slow'

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa claimed he extracted the best out of his Jaguar R3 in today's qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, but he only managed to set the 19th quickest time of the day.

The Milton-Keynes team, struggling with serious aerodynamic problems that they expect to solve by the British Grand Prix in July, endured another torrid session today, with Ulsterman Eddie Irvine finishing right behind de la Rosa in 20th place.

The Spanish driver, who is yet to score a point this year, said the Cosworth-powered R3 chassis is simply not fast enough.

"The team did a good job today given the circumstances and despite where we have qualified, our motivation towards getting our problems solved is high," admitted de la Rosa. "The car felt good, the balance was there, but it's simply too slow right now.

"In addition, I only really had one clean flying lap. To be honest, I was pushing hard and looking to extract time out of the car that didn't exist. My third run, however, was the best and tomorrow's race will no doubt be another tough one for us."