Drivers Unhappy with Lack of Dry Testing

Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine led the calls of frustration on Thursday as he and his competitors bemoaned the lack of dry testing time at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

After being forced to obey a testing ban since the end of the season, most teams face a race against time to get their 2002 challengers ready for the start of the season in Australia on March 3.

With Barcelona suffering sporadic spells of rain since test began on Monday, the first week of testing since the ban was lifted has been hindered and Irvine said he has learned little about the new Jaguar R3 car.

"We have come here to test the new car in the expectation that we would have warm weather that allowed us to run grooved tyres," said Irvine. "But that is far from the case. We simply haven't been able to generate a picture of where this car stands yet."

Like Jaguar, British American Racing and Grand Prix newcomers Toyota have new cars but still little idea of their potential performance. Jacques Villeneuve ran few laps in his single day of testing for BAR on Wednesday, while Mika Salo has also lost crucial testing time for Toyota.

"We are not running because it is an absolute waste of time," said Salo. "We have our own circuit at Paul Ricard, but there are the same problems there. I don't know, if someone could build an indoor track somewhere where it's 30 degrees inside. That would be perfect."