Lauda Pleads for Time to Improve R3B

Jaguar boss Niki Lauda said the Milton Keynes team have still issues to address on their revised Cosworth-powered R3B before they are capable of extracting the best from the car.

The British squad endured a torrid qualifying on Saturday, and things did not improve much in Sunday's race, with Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa crossing the finish line in 11th position more than two laps down.

Teammate Eddie Irvine failed to finish, retiring after losing control of his car at the Stowe corner on lap 24.

The R3B made its debut only last week at the Barcelona circuit, and after the disappointing result on Sunday, Austrian Lauda claimed the team still need time to be able to get the best out of the R3B.

"It's been a long and difficult weekend for us," said Lauda. "We have learned a great deal about our new package and quite simply, we still have a fair way to go before we are satisfied.

"As I said yesterday, we came here with a very limited understanding of how this new aero package would work because of the fact that we only tested it for the first time last Thursday.

"There are some positive steps relative to the previous car, but we also have some issues to address. We will examine carefully the data from today's race and combined with next week's Monza test, we will aim to understand how best to correct the issues at hand."