Irvine pleased but confused

There was extra joy when Jordan's Jarno Trulli was stripped of fourth place, elevating the Ulsterman to the position hours after the race had finished.

Jaguar have picked up as many points in the last two races as they have in the previous 14 and have 10 points - equal seventh with Benetton in the constructors' championship. As usual the R2 proved less than competitive in qualifying but still capable of points once the race started.

"It is a mystery why we seem to be so strong in race trim and yet qualifying form seems to elude us," said Irvine. "After our poor performance in qualifying we talked of the need for a clever race strategy and we did just that. It was great to get some more points."

"It was difficult to make ground at the start because I was on full fuel but once I had pitted I knew it was all or bust and I had no choice but to make an aggressive move on Heidfeld which worked out. After that my pace was very good and the car worked well."

Irvine earned the praise of his team boss, Niki Lauda. "Eddie drove a great race from 14th to finish fifth [on the road] and I cannot praise the team enough given the difficulties we have faced all weekend. These points are a just reward for all our hard work."

"The car performed faultlessly and that's saying something when you consider the demands of the race proved too much for Ferrari and Williams-BMW."