Jaguar Duo Encouraged Despite Retirements

Australian Mark Webber was disappointed after failing to finish his home race today, but the Jaguar driver said he was encouraged by the performance of his Cosworth-powered R4.

"To have retired from fifth place at my home race is a little disappointing but I remain positive because of the clear potential we showed today," said Webber. "Up until race day, it has been very difficult to get a crystal clear position of where we are relative to the competition because of the different strategies teams have employed on tyres and fuels.

"Once the race began, the performance of the car was good and I thoroughly enjoyed myself out there. I was on a two-stop strategy today and even though I knew Michael Schumacher was probably running a little heavier than me on fuel, it was a very nice feeling indeed to be fighting him on the race track."

Webber, who finished fifth in last year's race with the Minardi team, was forced to retire with a rear suspension failure on lap 15, a similar problem to the one suffered by teammate Antonio Pizzonia, who failed to finish in his debut Formula One Grand Prix.

"I am disappointed on one hand about not finishing but encouraged by the potential of the Jaguar R4," Pizzonia said. "There has been a lot of information to take on-board all weekend and as a rookie, it's been a case of understanding everything quickly.

"Mechanical failures of the kind we suffered today can be fixed, no problem, but the fact that we have clearly seen the pace of the Jaguar R4 is the biggest thing to take away from Melbourne."