Jaguar launch: Pedro aims for progress

Speaking exclusively to AUTOSPORT as Jaguar launched its new challenger, the R3, at its base in Milton Keynes, the Spaniard says he will have to wait until he has driven the car to know how much better it is.

"Let's be honest, I think what we have to aim for is progress and at the moment it is impossible to say how much progress because I haven't driven the R3," he said. "The things I have seen are good but it is all theory and sometimes theory doesn't work on the track. They have done a good job and they have worked very hard and the car looks different, it looks lighter, all the pieces are more thought about, but I cannot say anymore because at the end of the day we will say what the track says. But it looks different, it looks good.

"The bottom line is that we have to progress, not only improve, but progress forwards. That is basically what we are all pushing for, we are not setting any minimums or maximums, we just have to progress as much as we can and then we will see. I know all the wind tunnel figures, how light it is, but at the end of the day it is the stopwatch all that matters."

Entering his first full season with the team as a race driver, de la Rosa says he is happier with the set-up and atmosphere of the team entering the 2002 season.

"I think now it is all much more calm in the team, the feeling is that finally after the storm everything is calm," he said. "Niki [Lauda] is in charge, Gunther Steiner is the managing director and he makes everyone know who is their boss. The image the team is giving now of quietness is what everyone feels inside which is good because it gives consistency, at the end of the day that is what we need."