Jaguar Duo Praise Wirdheim's Role

Australian Mark Webber has supported the decision to allow the bottom six teams to run a third car in practice after Jaguar's test driver Bjorn Wirdheim took a load of work off Webber's shoulders in today's practice for the season opening race.

Webber was happy to be able to concentrate on his own car's set-up while Swede Wirdheim carried out tyre testing in the third R5. The F3000 champion was the busiest man on track, covering 30 laps, while Webber completed 17 on his way to the ninth fastest time of the day.

"Having Bjorn out there today meant that I could focus on my car set-up and balance while he did a lot of the tyre work, it makes a big difference to me having him with us on a Friday," said Webber at the end of the day.

"I am really pleased with how today went and I am now really looking forward to qualifying," the Australian driver added. "The track is of course slightly green in a few places but generally it feels good and I always enjoy driving here.

"The R5 is of course different to the R4 that we had here last year so it's important to work as much as we can setting up the car in preparation for tomorrow and the race."

Austrian rookie Christian Klien, making his Grand Prix debut in Australian, was also happy with Wirdheim's work.

"Having Bjorn work on the tyres too takes some of the pressure off and lets us focus on the cars," said Klien, who set the 17th fastest time of the day.

"It was exciting to go out there this morning and it certainly took me by surprise how much bumpier it was then I expected," he added. "The balance of the R5 was good but it still shakes you around and as I soon discovered it was also greener on track than I realised when I had a little spin at Turn 4.

"Learning the track today was really my priority and I feel that I achieved this. I did spend some time working on the R5 set-up and of course my tyres as I need to make this decision tonight."