Saturday March 2nd, 2002

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine has claimed that his Jaguar team have a lot of work to do before they are competitive this season.

Irvine, in his third season with the Milton Keynes-based squad, could only qualify in a disappointing 19th position in today's qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, while teammate Pedro de la Rosa was down in 20th place.

Irvine believes the team will have to work very hard to improve the team's R3 car and move forward as the season progresses.

"We were very honest about the R3's capabilities before we arrived here and as has been proved today, we have a mountain to climb before we reach the level of competitiveness that's required of us," said Irvine. "My first and only run was compromised because the brake balance moved rearward for some reason.

"At the most, I could have squeezed half a second more from the car, but that's hardly going to make a big difference given our current state."

Both Jaguar drivers were outqualified by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi, driving the Arrows powered by the same Cosworth engines.

Published at 04:42:25 GMT