We are Capable of Better Things, Says Irvine

Eddie Irvine was confident his Jaguar team will be capable of fighting for the points more often after the French Grand Prix, where the Irishman fought his way up the field until a mechanical problem ended his hopes of a top-six finish.

Irvine, who had qualified in twelfth place on Saturday, drove a fine race and fought against BAR's Olivier Panis and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen to move up to eighth place before a problem with the air valve system put an end to his Grand Prix. The Ulsterman, however, admitted he enjoyed his drive and looked forward to improving his qualigying pace in order to score points.

"I couldn't have driven a harder race today and to have started from 12th and ending up fighting for points proves that we are capable of better things," said Irvine. "We keep saying it, I know, but we need to make better use of qualifying.

"It seems to me that the Bridgestone tyres are great during Qualifying but we have a far better Michelin tyre during the race. It's great fun racing in the manner that we did today and very satisfying to come through the field and scrap for points. Big shame about the way it ended though."

Teammate Pedro de la Rosa was out of contention even before the start of the race, after his car suffered a throttle failure during the formation lap. The Spanish driver was able to continue, but having lost a lap he could only finish in a disappointing fourteenth place.

"That's a race I want to forget about," said de la Rosa. "I lost my throttle on the formation lap and for a while it looked like a retirement. It then began working again and I had no choice but to race hard and see what happened.

"The feeling of frustration is made worse because of how good the car felt. The less said about this race, the better."