Lauda Plays Down Jaguar's Performance

Jaguar boss Niki Lauda played down Eddie Irvine's performance in today's practice session for the United States Grand Prix.

Briton Irvine, who finished third behind the two triumphant Ferraris at the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago, was second quickest 0.575 of a second behind his former Ferrari teammate on a day when Ford confirmed their commitment to his Jaguar team.

Irvine said he was surprised by his time and insisted there was no playing around with low fuel loads to make Jaguar look good on Ford's home ground while team boss Lauda played down the times.

"As always, I never read too much into the Friday lap times," said the Austrian. "It is impossible to know what the other teams are running in terms of fuel loads and with that in mind, our final standings must be taken with a pinch of salt."

Irvine also refused to make any predictions for the weekend, but the Irishman was encouraged with his performance in today's session.

"We went through everything we aimed for and apart from a minor niggle with the brakes, I am happy with the car," added Irvine. "We changed the brakes completely and also made some changes to the set-up and balance. The track is quite unforgiving in places and grip seems to be a problem for everyone.

"Apart from that, there isn't anything to worry about at this stage. The pace of the Jaguar R3 is quite encouraging but it's way too early to make predictions about the weekend ahead."