Eddie Irvine Q&A

"We learned that we were nowhere near where we needed to be. The season looked a lot worse than it actually was. If you looked at our qualifying performances they weren't so bad. Race performances obviously in the first half of the year were ruined by the clutch, and by the time we'd solved that the performance of the car had stayed static for too long. We made a step forward for the last two races, which was quite visible as well. The year wasn't as bad as it looked to the outside world. We've pretty much understood where the problems were, and we've reacted to that on this car. It's going to be a lot better in the areas where we had the problems. You can never say how competitive you're going to be, because F1 is totally comparative. The goalposts are never in the same place. This year we think we've done a good job. We know there's a lot of room for improvement, we've just had new guys join the team and it's going to take time for them to come up with ideas and put them on the car, but it's all heading in the right direction."



"It's difficult to say yet. He's very amicable, and he's got a lot of racing experience. I think he's got the qualities needed to do the job, but only time will tell."



"Steve's got a lot of experience. John Russell is a very bright guy. I worked with him last year as well, and I think he's going to be a big star of the future, as is Mark Handford. He's going to be our new aerodynamicist, and his potential is huge. So I think we are getting a better team together, and it's going to take time for their input to come through, but the future's bright."



"I don't think it's a conservative car. Everyone seems to think we had reliability issues last year, but we didn't. I finished every race that I could have finished - I had a couple of accidents, but apart from that the car finished. We didn't have an unreliable car, so we didn't need to be that conservative. I think this car is a logical progression from last year's car, plus it's improved in the areas where last year's car was particularly troublesome. I don't think this car is aerodynamically where it probably needs to be, but, as I say, our new guy has just joined, and if we go to the first race we're going to be seeing improvements already."



"Obviously we don't have the single oil system, but apart from that this is a much better gearbox. The gearchange is a lot better, a lot faster. The suspension is more simple, but really the other suspension didn't have any advantages, it was just a lot more complex. Sometimes the simple things in life are better. I think the aerodynamics are the main thing, and I think you're going to see in the first six or seven months big improvements from where we are now.



"That's going to make it very interesting. Michelin is I believe the best tyre company in the world. I've used them before, and they have a totally different feel to any tyre I've ever driven on. But they've a reason for that, and we believe in that. I think if anyone can beat Bridgestone it's Michelin for sure. There's no company in the world that can do racing tyres better than Michelin."



"It's going to be tough to start with, you know. Bridgestone have a lot of experience of F1 now, a lot of experience with the grooved tyres. They've got all the experience of the various circuits. Michelin have got to play catch up. They've got their own ideas on what they've got to do. They believe very strongly in their theory of designing tyres, and it is very different from Bridgestone. We'll see who's got the right philosophy."



"I've no idea. There are more unknowns in there. Obviously the tyre situation is unknown, and we don't know what people are doing with their cars. We can't say. Our engine's good, and we've got a good design crew now. The world's going to be a better place for Jaguar drivers!"



"No..."



"The rest. Williams, Jordan, BAR...our little group is very, very tight. That's why it's great fun racing in this group, because you're not racing one car. At Ferrari you couldn't race Michael, and normally the McLarens were too quick. So you didn't race. Now I'm racing two BARs, two Williams, two Benettons, two Jordans. Life's a lot tougher, but it's a lot more fun."



"He's a clever guy, and he's got a good reputation coming from F3, so we'll see."



"**** off!"