Irvine declares himself fitter than ever

Eddie Irvine declared himself fitter and hungrier for success than ever as Jaguar unveiled their new R3 Formula One car on Friday.

"I've been doing some training and had very good results," the Northern Irish driver said after uncovering the gleaming green machine that Jaguar hope will bring significant improvements on a disappointing 2001.

"I'm getting fitter as I get older," grinned Irvine, championship runner-up with Ferrari in 1999 and now the oldest driver on the grid at 36 following the retirement of France's Jean Alesi. "It's a bit strange but I'm lucky."

Irvine's love of parties, women and expensive playthings is well documented but he said he had enjoyed a quiet Christmas with his girlfriend in Florida.

He denied he was doing anything different to his training routine but he said the medical evidence was clear.

"I did a fitness exam a couple of weeks ago and it was one of the highest scores ever measured by a Formula One driver, which is shocking," said Irvine, who gave Jaguar a first podium with third place in Monaco this year.

"It surprises me, but there we go. It's just the Irish blood and red wine, you know. I do the same things and it's just going well. We've just got to wait and see what happens with this car, that's the question mark.

"I don't think I'm going to get tired at the end of races, I don't think that's going to be an issue."

DISTINCTLY DOWNBEAT

"This is the first proper Jaguar," added Irvine in a rare burst of enthusiasm after sounding distinctly downbeat on the stage set up at the team's factory to show off the third challenger since their debut in 2000.

"We'll wait and see," he cautioned. "It's easy to say it's going to be the classiest and you come to the first race and you're 20th on the grid and you look like a plonker.

"For sure it's going to be better than last year's car but it's too early to say exactly where we're at. But it is better in all the right areas."

Irvine's contract with Jaguar runs out at the end of 2002 but he dismissed suggestions that it might be his last in Formula One.

"The end of my current contract with Jaguar does not stipulate that I must leave Formula One," he said. "I must check the contract and see if that's what it says.

"If I do the job, I stay. If I don't do the job I go. That's normal, it's sport."

Team principal Niki Lauda made clear that the Briton had everything to drive for and reinforced the message that Jaguar had a duty to give the drivers a better car than the old R2, which he will test later this month.

"The weight was a problem last year and the aerodynamics were a problem. This car is much better in both areas," the Austrian three times world champion said.

Lauda said Jaguar would have a wind tunnel in nearby Bicester operational by March, a major boost for a British-based team that has been using one in California up to now.

Technical director Steve Nichols said the R2 had been quite conventional and the R3 marked a change in philosophy.

"We have encouraged our engineers as a group to be much more on the edge," he said. "Closer to the edge, not falling off."

Jaguar also announced a new sponsorship deal, with Castrol becoming the team's official lubrication partner.