Friday March 15th, 2002

The Jaguar team endured an unusual practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, according to the Milton Keynes team's boss Niki Lauda.

The Ford-owned squad, who is struggling to make their Cosworth-powered R3 competitive this season, decided not to concentrate on their tyre choice as they usually do on Fridays, and spent their day at the Sepang circuit as another testing session aimed at getting a better understanding of their car.

"Unlike most Friday Free Practice sessions, we didn't spend any time working on tyres today," said Lauda. "Instead, we have effectively used the opportunity as a conventional test session. There is still a lot we don't know about this car and our aim today was to generate information."

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was the quickest of the Jaguar duo, setting the 12th quickest time of the day, while teammate Eddie Irvine struggled at the back, posting the 20th fastest time, complaining about the lack of downforce generated by the R3.

Jaguar have admitted that they were considering reverting to last year's R2, and Lauda again said that the decision will be made after their Barcelona test next week.

"The track didn't lend itself too well to this during the first session because of a lack of grip," the Austrian added. "Nonetheless, it got better and better and we have moved a step closer to our target of understanding the package.

"We will continue with our programme tomorrow and combined with a three-day test next week in Barcelona, we will make a decision very soon on whether we re-deploy the R2 for a few races."

Published at 09:44:10 GMT