Jaguar Boss Not Expecting to Keep Second Place

Jaguar team principal Tony Purnell praised the performance of Mark Webber after he scored the team's best ever grid position for the Malaysian Grand Prix - but expects a podium to be beyond the Australian.

Webber produced a high-quality performance to record his own best qualifying position with second place on the grid and it was also a best for Milton Keynes-based Jaguar. Webber finished between pole-sitter Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, who was third, and it was a surprise performance for Purnell.

"It is really, really pleasing and it is a fantastic achievement for everyone back home and the team," Purnell said. "I knew it was a good lap because watching it you could see the last two sectors were pretty much mistake-free. But I never thought we would split the Ferraris. Never."

Webber's previous best qualifying results came with third place for Jaguar in last year's Brazilian and Hungarian Grands Prix, but he has yet to finish higher than the fifth place he scored on his debut with Minardi in Australia in 2002.

Purnell does not expect Webber to keep his second place at the end of the race and said: "I don't think it is real - we are not the second best car for sure.

"But the team is excellent and we will just carry on doing what we are doing because what we have at Jaguar and at Cosworth is right. I think McLaren are going through a poor patch at the moment, they haven't spent their money very well compared to us, but realistically they are going to outperform us.

"We will keep things going the way we are because we have got a really good bunch of guys who are working together as a team. The top four teams are better than us but I think occasionally every dog has its day and this was ours."