Except, on this particular day, it does. Means a lot. Another notch on the bedpost. Means a lot to Johnny Herbert. New team-mate’s here to sample his new mount, new team for the first time. Of course, the established driver, the man with a year’s experience of the personnel, the structure and the car was always going to be the quicker this time out, but to be the quickest of the lot, quicker than the McLarens and the Ferraris, well, that was nice. Enjoyable. Welcome aboard. I lope you have nice stay.

But this is too shallow. Beating your team-mate is the second-most important Fl factor after winning a title, and yes, Herbert wants to get the better of Eddie Irvine in Jaguar’s first year at the highest level. ‘Course he does. But if we are to discover how he intends to do so, we have to dig that bit deeper. Look that bit closer.

And it’s hard to get closer to the action than to stand trackside at this circuit in southern Spain. A low, very low, concrete wall and a narrow strip of parched grass is all that separates me, bloke-who-should-be-carrying-a-camera (mañana marshals appear unconcerned), from the cars. I’m at the final corner, the left-hand hairpin. And, you know, Johnny really seems to be enjoying himself out there. Having fun. He locks up big-time three laps in a row in that distinctive late-turn-in style of his. On one occasion, he runs wide by a sizeable margin. He gets the car stopped, applies a little more lock and boots the tail round with a joyrider’s glee.

Okay, okay, it’s a bit scruffy this time around, but he hovers near the top of the timesheets all day a day he full-stops with the quickest time of the lot. You see, these days, if he misses an apex or two, he doesn’t berate himself, panic or worry about his future; for the time being at least Johnny Herbert is letting it flow. Like he used to in F3 and F3000. Back then, it was no problem to be on pole, be fastest, win races, charge to podium finishes from the back of the grid. It was easy. It was natural.

By his own admission he will probably never be the driver that he might have been but for that horrendous F3000 shunt at Brands Hatch, nevertheless you get the feeling he believes he’s as close as he might ever be. Of course there’s room for improvement. That’s always been so — even when he was touted as the new Jim Clark as a just turned-20, baby-curled blond — but, in general, he’s feeling on top of his game. That win at the Nürburgring— the best of his three Fl victories to date — his follow-up fourth place in Malaysia, his late-season overturning of team-mate Rubens Barrichello, a man who many believe will prove quicker than Irvine at Ferrari, if not as well able to cope with Michael Schumacher’s pre-eminence there, have rocketed Herbert’s confidence miles high.

He bounds into Stewart’s (they only transformed into Jaguar Racing on 1 January) tent, his choirboy complexion exuding a healthy glow, and has a pretend (albeit prolonged) kiss with the team’s moustachioed PR man, then orders something with chicken in it, then asks what the interview’s all about.

"Jaguar? You mean Ford, don’t you?" he grins. He banters about how often Jackie Stewart will say Stewart-Ford during his grand prix weekend talks to invited guests and bigwigs. Jokes about there being something in his contract that forces JYS to say Jaguar Racing four times every second and Stewart Grand Prix six! He assays his best Jackie impression and Dumbartons about "being in our third year" and being "still a very young team". And laughs.

Then, like a light, he switches to serious Jaguar Racing mode.

"The base is different, the top’s different, the middle’s the same, but it’s definitely a different team. It’s a step forward.

"It’s the next boost. Although Ford was there when it was Stewart, I think Ford, Jackie, everybody here thought it had to be the way to move the thing forward — to acquire the team and use the jaguar name and its sporting heritage for the first time in Formula 1."

He talks about the colour - the Green - of wearing it with pride when he drove for the British karting team, of it being special to he a British driver in Jaguar’s first season of F1. There is no reason to disbelieve him, but the real truth is that the car could be decked out in a purple paisley pattern - tartan even - for all he cares. Next season is all about Johnny Herbert. If he does well, so does Jaguar - so they can tag along for the ride. Time is running out. He’s 35 and he’s not the new Jim Clark; he will say all the right things, he always does, but he aims to accentuate the positives, use them to his advantage. He must do.

He talks about them a lot: past ones already mentioned, and future ones - of being the ‘established’ driver in the team now, of the break up of the Jackie-Rubens axis (though he is, understandably, cagey about this one), of Eddie taking the bulk of the limelight while he can concentrate on the job’s core, of Ford’s out-and-out statement that they are here in F1 to win. Positives, he admits, he needs all the time. He has dealt with plenty of negatives in that chirpy way of his and it’s clear he’s had enough of them. Eddie Irvine be warned.

"Eddie has done well the last couple of seasons, got close to winning it last year, so he’s got a good reputation for being quick and possibly able to win a world championship in the future. I have a reputation for being a quick driver whose career has never quite gelled. I am still determined to make it gel. And because of what happened at the end of the season, I think I will be very competitive against Eddie. It’s not going to be easy. I’m not expecting to do it every single race, but I am going to give him a harder time than many people think."

He’s positive about that. Let it flow, Johnny.

Irvine and Herbert have clashed in the past, most memorably in 1994 at Monza, when Irvine’s Jordan tipped Herbert out at the first chicane (above). This incident, many feel, was the final nail in Lotus’ coffin.

But the drivers haven’t always been rivals. In fact, 15 years ago, they were team-mates. For part of Britain’s Formula Ford season of ‘85 they were teamsters at Mike Thompson’s Quest outfit — possibly the strongest pairing of juniors ever. Irvine’s Mondiale drive had fallen through in the summer and he was thrown a lifeline by Quest, where Herbert was already setting the world alight against the likes of Damon Hill and Mark Blundell. For five races Thompson was able to directly compare the embryonic Fl stars.

"They were both good, even then," he says. "Easy to work with; characters, too. If I’d been asked at the time who would make it, I would probably have said neither - they had no money. If pushed, I would have gone for Johnny on natural ability, but Eddie on who was most likely to get to F1."

Considering the latter had an unsuccessful time at Quest, this is surprising, but the team boss was quick to spot the ability that has served the Irishman so well: "He would nag at the car — always looking for more. It was obvious he was very talented." As for Herbert, ‘85 was the year he was noticed, and Thompson, who was his manager for some years after, says he still has a very special ability.

"When we went to test, we hardly talked to him. We would make a change and we knew - had absolute trust - he would go out and do a time. Where he is good is in not being variable, it’s like having something mechanical in the car." 

And Thompson’s tip for top cat in 2000?

"Johnny will probably be quicker in the first three races, but then it will be Eddie. Johnny’s average finishing slot will be seventh and Eddie will be a top-four regular."

That’s us told. 

Mike Breslin