Jaguar Won't Replace Webber's Engine Yet

Mark Webber will have to wait until Saturday's practice to know whether his Jaguar team will have to replace his engine following a problem in today's session.

Australian Webber had a torrid time, his Jaguar's engine catching fire in the first session, which was halted for six minutes as marshals, slow to douse the flames as cars accelerated past them out of the chicane at the end of the tunnel, craned the stricken Jaguar off the circuit.

Webber was unable to take part in the second session.

Jaguar said the Australian had suffered an oil leak caused by a loose engine pressure hose, and although Webber said the engine did not seem to be damaged, he was not going to be sure until tomorrow.

"Not the start to the weekend that I had anticipated or hoped for," said Webber. "The car caught on fire and I was forced to act quickly to try and limit the damage to the chassis and engine. The damage, despite my efforts was extensive enough for me to miss out on the second session.

"The team are working flat out to repair the car and at this stage the engine appears to be OK. However, until I get back out on track and actually put some miles on the car we won't really know.

"I would have liked to have completed more mileage today but that's the way it goes and we will be back out on Saturday ready for qualifying."

If Jaguar replace Webber's engine, the Australian will lose ten grid positions.

The Ford-owned team had a nightmare day, with both Christian Klien and test driver Bjorn Wirdheim crashing against the tyre barriers in the second session.