Lauda: Double retirement a harsh blow

The team needed to finish ahead of the Benetton-Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button in order to take seventh in the standings but Irvine retired from a strong seventh position after the power supply to both of the team's fuel rigs failed, meaning no fuel went into Irvine's car.

De la Rosa was out of luck too - having started in the T-car after a crank sensor failed on his regular machine, the Spaniard retired from 12th with an oil leak.

"Everybody at Jaguar Racing is disappointed," said Lauda. "A lot of time and effort went into this race strategy and everything was going to plan until Eddie's pit-stop. It's a very strange thing to have happen, but we inexplicably lost the power supply to both rigs. It's too early to explain why this happened, but it happened. A perfect job done by everybody and a very harsh blow to follow."

Irvine said: "I'm thoroughly disappointed. All the hard work was done. I had climbed to seventh place in the race and, had the fuel rig worked, we would have come out ahead of both Benettons, which was the target for this race. The car felt good and I was pushing it to the absloute limit, but there is no way of preparing for bizarre issues like this."

Both teams finish the year with 10 points and although Benetton's Fisichella retired from the race, having run in fifth during the opening laps, Button's seventh position was enough to secure seventh in the constructor's championship for the team on a count-back of results.

For full race results, click here.