Revised Jaguar fails to impress

"I'm obviously disappointed with our qualifying positions for tomorrow's race," said Jaguar team principal Niki Lauda. "We knew this weekend would mark the first step in what is an on-going aerodynamic programme.

"We ran the new package in Barcelona for the first time last week and we haven't had anywhere near enough time to understand it fully. There are definite improvements in certain areas, but we still need to extract more and address certain issues.

"We will continue pushing forward and I'm sure we will exploit the package to its full potential - something we haven't done in the short time since it arrived on the car a week ago."

Jaguar's cause was not aided by a water leak and electrical misfire on de la Rosa's car. The Spaniard only set a time within 107 percent of the pole position mark in the dying seconds and will start last on the grid in the absence of Minardi's Alex Yoong.

"Things happen like that and today simply wasn't my day," said de la Rosa. "I began wondering whether I would actually qualify at all for tomorrow's race. I only managed to get across the line within four seconds of the session being declared finished!"

Irvine took solace in the car's potential improvement in race conditions.

"Of course we would have liked to have qualified higher, but I've hardly tested this new package," he said. "At least we have a much better car over a race distance."