Webber Dedicates Qualifying Effort to Mechanics

Mark Webber praised the continued commitment of his Jaguar team's mechanics and engineers, after he claimed third place on the grid in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.

Webber, whose best grid position came in Malaysia in March, when he started from second, said his Suzuka lap was a tribute to Jaguar's personnel efforts since Ford put the team up for sale - although the Australian admitted the race will be a different story.

"The race team has been extremely professional, you'd expect nothing less," said Webber. "Hopefully we can get some good points today. It's going to be a tough race for us probably, but we'll give it absolutely everything.

"It would be nice to finish on a high for the guys. Paddy, Alan Maybin, my number one mechanic, it's his last race this weekend and he has been in Formula One for a long time so our luck was with Paddy, so good luck mate.

"It was a good day for us so far. Only 10 per cent of the work is done but in general the guys have done a really really good job but the guys only know how to work one way."

Webber went out half way through the pre-qualifying session but set a lap time good enough to put him third from last in the running order for the later grid-deciding runs.

He admitted that his committed opening run was vital and said: "qualifying one definitely put us in a good position for the main qualifying position itself, giving us the best, or some of the best conditions in terms of the track.

"That lap was the most important one this morning and the second one was a bit easier in some ways. Enjoyable to drive, tyres did a good job and the car was good so I'm looking forward to the race."