Ireland boss has faith in drivers

Michael Devaney and John O'Hara have been driving for Ireland so far this season, but Devaney's 10th place in the sprint race at Sepang two weeks ago was the team's first point of the season.

However, Kershaw believes that the team are struggling because they haven't been able to run the same driver in all sessions of a weekend.

Until this weekend, O'Hara had been taking part in Friday's rookie sessions before handing the car over to Devaney for the rest of the event.

"Some observers have taken our decision as a vote of no confidence in our existing drivers," said Kershaw, "but that is simply wrong.

"We wanted to find an experienced driver who has raced and won at this level and yet can qualify for all the practice sessions."

Series leaders Team Germany benefited in the early rounds of the season from being able to run Nico Hulkenberg in all sessions, and several other teams have followed this strategy in recent weeks.

Kershaw added: "Our drivers understand that we have suffered compared to some of our rivals in having to split the sessions between them.

"That wouldn't be a problem if the car was competitive, but it isn't, so we have to find a cure."

Ireland suffered a setback earlier in the season when they found serious problems with their chassis, and they had to get special permission from A1GP and Lola to fix the car.