Rogue Profile of Mark Webber

“The car was obviously heavy at the start with the strategy we had chosen, and then we weren’t able to stick to our pit stop schedule because of a fuelling issue,” the Webber said. “The balance of the car was much better on the second set of tyres, but then I had a touch with Massa, which caused a puncture, and I had to make an unscheduled stop, followed by another five laps from the end of the race, for a final splash of fuel. This was a good Grand Prix to get under my belt. I learned a lot today, but I’ve still got a lot more to do.”

“I made a great start and was able to follow Nick in the early stages, but then some understeer got worse and worse and I began to slip back,” Massa explained. “I had a great fight with Villeneuve and Frentzen but unfortunately, after my stop Mark Webber tried to brake very late and put me out.”

“I made a good start and took a few people going into turn one and on the exit as we were avoiding the spinning Jordans. The next 18 laps or so were just unbelievable as I found myself fighting a big chassis balance problem,” he said. “After the first of my two pit stops, however, and with a new set of tyres fitted, the situation improved massively and we set some good lap times. We made progress in the middle of the race and then, in the final stint, things were also working well for us. I guess you could say I enjoyed laps 20 to 60, but not one to 19.”

“We really don’t know what happened yet,” Mark admitted. “I hit the brakes at the end of Hangar Straight and the car just snapped into a high-speed spin. We had been going really well to that point and I was able to run at a consistent, competitive pace. It’s disappointing, because with the problems caused by the weather today, there might well have been the opportunity for a good finish.”

After the Friday’s morning’s first practice session it was clear that Mark Webber
was fast on his home track, not surprising since he had taken part in the two
hour morning test; the one reserved for the teams who forfeit "normal"
testing time.

The previous year he scored Minardi’s only points of the 2002 season by coming
in fifth. It was his first race and was the highlight of his season. In Friday’s
qualifying session he was thirteenth on the track but Australian blood boiled
too hot on home soil and he developed a slight case of "lead foot" as
he approached the first turn of his timed lap. He missed his braking point and
the R4 slid over the grass at the corner’s apex.

He could have been lining his Jaguar up against a matching background for some
nice shots for the photographers but this was probably the last thing on his mind.
Not only did he loose time directly from the incident, he was forced to drive
the rest of his lap on dirty tyres and the result was a disappointing 1:27.657.
Webber would run sixth in the following day’s qualifying proper.

"The Jaguar R4 has felt really good all day but I need to do a better
job of controlling my aggression – something which ultimately cost me a much higher
qualifying position today," Mark said.

In true fashion of a driver at his home race, Mark Webber spoiled his lap in Saturday’s
one shot qualifying by cutting over the grass at the apex of the first turn. Cajoled
by the crowd, Webber repeated Ralf Schumacher’s mistake on the dusty track and
ran across the grass at the apex of the first turn of his timed lap. However,
it was early in the session and track was still filthy. (In common with every
driver, Webber’s brakes were not heating as quickly as he would have liked since
every car had to run "racing" brake ducts under the new rules.)

Webber had to suffer the ignominy of driving the rest of the lap with dirty
tyres and ironically, he was fast. Webber must have been scratching his head as
he pondered what might have been if it had not been for a few short metres.

"Qualifying was tough today and the new format is going to take some getting
used to. Having spent this morning working on race set-up and tyre evaluation
we went into qualifying with a good baseline for tomorrow’s race," Mark
explained. "The team has done an excellent job working on the car and
I could probably have squeezed a little more time out of the first sector today
but nonetheless, I pleased with the second and third sector times. The midfield
grid is extremely tight and tomorrow’s race is a lottery right now – anything
can happen. We have learned a great deal about the car over the past couple of
days and combined with our approach and strategy thus far, I am quite satisfied
with our position going into tomorrow’s race."

After a stunning performance over the entire weekend, Jaguar’s Mark Webber was
running in fourth position on the fifty-fourth lap. He had taken "pole position"
in the first qualifying session, had been third in the second and he looked to
be on target for a podium finish.

Coming up to complete the lap, Webber lost control of his R4 as it bottomed
out in the fast left hand sweep that leads on to the start / finish straight.
The Australian was powerless to regain control. The R4 speared to the left. Webber
bracing himself before the car exploded into the tyre barrier at the side of the
track. Then it spun through 1980 degrees into the wall on the right-hand side
of the track before coming to a rest, its violent journey at a conclusion.

Although Webber was unscathed, the Jaguar lost it three wheels and its front
and rear wings. Tyres from the dishevelled barrier littered the track. The safety
car pulled out of the pits and yellow flags waved around the track. That was before
Fernando Alonso flashed through the scene of the accident at frightening speed
and hit a stray wheel.

"Unfortunately, however, that didn’t happen and at this stage, I am not
100% sure what caused by accident on the final left-hander. Given the unforgiving
nature of this circuit combined with the very heavy fuel load I was carrying,
I suspect the tyres were struggling with grip – something I’m sure everyone had
to contend with today. The accident was pretty big by any standards but thankfully,
I’m OK. I want to thank all the Jaguar crew for putting in a sterling effort this
weekend and in the process, we’ve earned ourselves two championship points. We’ve
also shown some phenomenal potential this weekend and there are a lot of positives
to take away and exploit over the remaining thirteen races."

Jaguar Racing driver Mark Webber rewarded his teams efforts in Saturday qualifying
by securing third place in near miraculous fashion.

To much surprise, Webber has taken "pole" in the previous day’s session
but his pace was attributed to the drying conditions at the end of the session.

When he crossed the timing beam to complete his run on Saturday afternoon,
the gasps in the pit lane were even more audible than Friday’s!

The pit lane was humming with rumours that suggested Webber was running a "very
light" fuel load. Predictably, the Australian was quick with his attempt
to kibosh the talk but unsurprisingly his efforts were fruitless.

"I’m surprised because we simply didn’t think we would end up on the
second row of the grid. We were aiming for top ten qualifying positions but the
car felt great out there and that was as close to a near perfect lap I could have
done. Contrary to what some people are saying, we were not running the car light
with fuel and our strategy going into the race tomorrow is two-stops – not three,"
Mark explained. "We may decide to come in a little early compared
to the Ferraris and McLarens but in all honestly, we are not competing with them
yet at this stage of our development. We need to come away from the race tomorrow
with points and while a podium would be a dream result, the strength of our package
is not yet capable of challenging for podium honours."

On lap twenty, Mark Webber dived into the pits for his first scheduled pit stop.
He was running a three-stop strategy so a speedy stop was in order.

The Australian succumbed to the pressure of the situation and forgot to turn
on his R4′s pit-lane speed limiter before it was too late.

Therefore, Webber shattered the pit-lane speed limit and he was forced to take
a drive through-penalty five laps later (on lap twenty.)

Irvine once remarked that having your teammate win five times in a row was “like being hit with a baseball bat”. Webber replied during the Thursday press conference;

“Absolutely f****** ludicrous question mate!” Webber exclaimed. “You’ve known me long enough… you’ve known me long enough. Five wins in a row? Yeah, but that doesn’t mean… he’s not just beaten me, he’s beaten everyone – so no-one will turn up then! We may as well all stay at home.”

He added: “That’s what a competitor does. Nothing lasts forever, that’s the way it goes. Like I said, he’s doing a good job and Malaysia was close between us. So we come here and see how we go. I think… I’ll stop there.”

Webber was lucky to recover back to the pits for repair.

On the way back to the pits, Webber went off at the Parabolica after his broken wing jammed under his car and sent him straight on. Webber was an instant retirement.

The session was red flagged to clean up the mess.