FEBRUARY 19, 2004

A sign from Jaguar

For the last few weeks it has been assumed that the new Jaguar is not going to be competitive. At Valencia on Wednesday however Christian Klien put the team on the board by lapping the track in a time of 1m09.514s, just four-tenths slower than Juan Pablo Montoya's lap record of the same day. Klien was only slightly slower than Jenson Button's BAR-Honda.

Klien's lap is the fifth fastest lap at the track this year and has been beaten only by Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia in Williams-BMWs (the latter in an old car); by Michael Schumacher's Ferrari and by Button. It is better than the best laps at the track by Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen.

Jaguar has said from the start of tests with the new caar that there are no problems and that the team is working through a programme of developments rather than going for times.