Lauda defends position at Jaguar helm

Lauda was brought in as overlord to the Jaguar Racing squad at the beginning of the year after filling a similar role at Ferrari in the early 1990s. But he was left in charge of the Milton Keynes-based team following the sacking of CEO Bobby Rahal in August.

The triple world champion is renowned for speaking his mind, but Lauda believes his methods will help the struggling team, which finished eighth in this year's constructors' championship, to move forward.

"I have to speak out to get things done," Lauda told AUTOSPORT's sister title Autocar. "And I have a very clear idea of what we need to do. I came here because I felt I could bring worthwhile input from my time at Ferrari. I know what's required to be a top F1 team."

Lauda hopes that Jaguar's purchase of the Arrows' wind tunnel in Bedford will help the 2002 car. The Austrian believes that this year's R2 was too conservative in its conception and did not deserve to be higher than 13th on the grid, where number one driver Eddie Irvine qualified for the last race of the season in Japan.

"Where we were at Suzuka was exactly where I expected we would be when I first saw the R2 at the start of the year," he said. "It was way, way too conservative. We have had better results than we expected at some circuits, to be honest. But 13th on the grid at Suzuka is what you would expect."