Irvine critical of JV, but Rahal's not impressed

The Jaguar team leader wound up 12th and the BAR ace seventh as Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal said he expected to see his two cars in the top 10.

"I was right behind him (Villeneuve) coming into the final corner," said Irvine. "I thought Jacques was on a flying lap but he held me up and then dived into the pits. A man of his experience should know better.

"Apparently he came down to see me and apologise but what's the point in talking about it? The only thing that works in a case like this is revenge," added Irvine. "I don't suppose it would have made a huge difference to my qualifying position."

But Irvine, winner of this race two years ago, admitted that the team had again failed to build on the promise shown on Friday practice.

"Other teams make steps forward but we don't progress enough," he added. "It was the same in Melbourne and we need to understand why."

Even though he was balked, Irvine still wound up higher up the grid than under-pressure team mate Luciano Burti, three places lower in 15th.

"I'm disappointed and can't understand why the car wasn't as good on less fuel than it was in the morning," said the Brazilian, who looks set to be replaced by test driver Pedro de la Rosa in 2002. "I had traffic on my third run but that pales into insignificance compared to the set-up problems we had."

Team boss Bobby Rahal was less than impressed with Jaguar's qualifying performance.

"From our free practice feedback I expected to be in the top 10 - or at least better than this. Villeneuve's blocking of Eddie can't be used as an excuse. We didn't make the most of our potential and need a hard evening's work to work out why."