Irvine coy over Jaguar prospects

Eddie Irvine won the 1999 Australian Grand Prix

Eddie Irvine was unusually guarded on Wednesday when he was asked about Jaguar's prospects for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

The Northern Ireland man was recently rebuked by Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal for criticising the new cars as "too slow" and the technical team "understaffed".

"Our performance in testing has been ambiguous. We don't really know how fast we are," said Irvine ahead of Sunday's opening race of the Formula One season.

Irvine, who won the 1999 Australian Grand Prix in a Ferrari, did say it was unrealistic to think Jaguar would be among the front-runners this season.

But the 35-year-old said he did expect them to improve as the year went with a view towards 2002.

"I think this year we'll start a bit slower and gradually build," he said.

Luciano Burti is Irvine's Jaguar teammate

"Progressing the car is the big thing we are trying to achieve this year," said the Ulsterman.

Jaguar's new number two driver, Luciano Burti, has only driven in one Formula One race before, filling in for Irvine at last year's Austrian Grand Prix, finishing 11th.

The Italian secured a full-time drive for the season but was coy about his prospects.

"It's my first full season so I have the chance to do a good job this year," said Burti.

"We must do a better job than we did last year," he said.