Rahal optimistic, Irvine not so sure

Jaguar has had a difficult time since it entered Formula 1 at the beginning of last season after taking over Stewart Grand Prix. Irvine's podium finish in Monte Carlo is the first for the Milton Keynes-based outfit since it became Jaguar and its first points of the 2001 season.

The R2s of Irvine and team mate Pedro de la Rosa were sporting heavily revised aerodynamics at last weekend's race - modifications which appear to have been a step in the right direction.

"This result has given the team a tremendous boost," Rahal told British newspaper, The Independent. "Everybody has been so downcast, but this will lift their spirits. For the last year and a half people have been saying we are a bunch of no-hopers, but we're not. And this is vindication of the hard work we've put in.

"We are organised and disciplined and that's what we need to be if we are to continue improving. We are not here to make up the numbers. Our long term goal is to win the world championship."

Before Monaco, the highest finish for the team was a seventh place for Irvine in Austria, but in terms of outright speed, the Jaguar's best grid position was a lowly 12th.

Around the Principality however, Irvine ran consistently nearer to the front and qualified sixth. He went on to take third at the finish, with just the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello ahead of him.

But despite the dramatic increase in pace, the 35-year-old is reluctant to signal the end of his team's poor run of form until the R2's aero revisions have been put to use somewhere other than the tight and twisty Monte Carlo circuit.

"It's good, it's four points and it gets us ahead of Benetton, it gets us ahead of Arrows, and we should be beating them," said Irvine. "But this is a weirdo circuit, so it really doesn't mean anything.

"It's good that we were on the podium here, that's where Jaguar should be - on the podium. It's right for Formula 1. But Canada is where we'll find out if we've made the step forward we think we have, or not. That will tell us more about how the rest of the season's going to go."

The team is back in action this week completing a three-day test at Magny-Cours in France fielding cars for both Irvine and de la Rosa.

For full Eddie Irvine Q&A, (Click Here).