Irvine Fears Slipping Back at Imola

Eddie Irvine fears slipping back at this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix because the improvements seen at Jaguar in Brazil were largely down to input from Michelin.

Irvine finished just outside the points in seventh place at Interlagos, with teammate Pedro de la Rosa eighth, but he is expecting cooler conditions to hurt their chances in the first European race of the season.

Irvine finished fourth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and although he believes the car can be developed into a competitive machine, he is not expecting to see immediate improvement.

"At Imola I think the Michelin advantage will not be so great," said Irvine. "There's more high speed corners there, the track is going to be a lot cooler. So it depends. If we fix the problems we have we should hold onto these positions. If we don't we'll move back a bit."

The San Marino race always conjures up memories of Ayrton Senna's death, which happened there in 1994, but Irvine insists that he no longer thinks about the great champion when he goes to Imola.

"(I have) no feelings whatsoever," he said. "It's such a long time ago that if you haven't moved on by now there is something wrong."