Sixth for Webber lifts Jaguar

The British marque had struggled for pace around the ultra-fast track, and their woes were compounded when a transmission problem ended Justin Wilson's race early. But Webber's car ran faultlessly, and two points ensured the team lost little ground to BAR in the highly competitive battle for fifth in the Constructors' championship.

"Monza has not been our most competitive performance of the season and if someone had told me before the race began that I would finish in seventh place with two championship points, it would have been hard to believe," said Webber.

"To have salvaged two points from what was a tough weekend for us is a big, big result - especially in light of [Jacques] Villeneuve's sixth place. We had to compromise on straight-line speed to look after the tyres and while I did suffer from understeer and some blistering, the end result is extremely pleasing for everyone in the team."

Dr Mark Gillan, Jaguar's head of vehicle performance, said: "A very tough weekend but the net effect is positive. We are extremely disappointed for Justin and naturally very frustrated with not having given him reliable machinery for the last three races. Mark, however, drove yet another storming race.

"We are delighted and fortunate to have come away with another two championship points but we have an awful lot of preparation work ahead of us if we are to seriously challenge for fifth place [in the constructors' championship]."