Sunday March 3rd, 2002

Briton Eddie Irvine considered himself very lucky after finishing in fourth place at Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, giving the Jaguar team three valuable points.

Irvine had started the race from 19th position on the grid after a nightmare qualifying for the Milton Keynes team, but after the first corner accident the Irishman found himself in fifth place and drove as hard as he could during the rest of the race.

Irvine, whose best result with Jaguar is a third place at last year's Monaco Grand Prix, was happy with the result, but did not get carried away and admitted there's still a lot of work ahead for the team.

"We were certainly very lucky today, but we finished and the others didn't," said Irvine. "It was extremely difficult to drive and today's result doesn't change the fact that we have an enormous amount of work ahead of us. After the weekend we've had, these three points mean an awful lot to everybody in the team.

"As I entered the first corner after the start, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were cars lying all over the place and having weaved through the carnage, I found myself in 5th place. It's not everyday that eleven or so cars go out at the first corner and there can't be any illusions about how we got this result today.

"Nonetheless, the team did a great job today and three points is a brilliant start to the season."

Irvine's teammate Pedro de la Rosa finished down in eighth place, five laps down, after suffering an electrical problem in his R3.

Published at 07:24:12 GMT