Webber Refuses to Make Any Predictions

New Jaguar Racing driver Mark Webber is refusing to make any predictions ahead of his first season with the Ford-owned outfit.

The Australian made an impressive debut with the Minardi team last year, scoring two points in his first ever Grand Prix, and landed the Jaguar seat after the team decided to renew their driver line-up for the 2003 season. Webber will be partnered by Brazilian rookie Antonio Pizzonia.

Jaguar finished in seventh place in last year's Constructors' Championship after struggling with the performance of their Cosworth-powered R3 and have undergone a reshuffle in the hope of moving forward in 2003. Webber, however, does not want to make predictions yet.

"Well, I'm not going to get out my crystal ball and start making predictions â€" but I want to go racing, let's put it that way," said Webber. "Last year, at Minardi, I was in a team that, largely through no fault of its own, was stuck at or near the back throughout the season.

"I'm not saying we're going to be challenging the big boys in 2003, but I'm certainly hoping we'll be serious players in that tight competitive bunch immediately behind them. That's my goal, and if we could begin to move towards the front of that bunch towards the second half the season, that would be a very good performance, I think.

"So I'm looking for points finishes, especially in the second half of the year."

Jaguar scored just eight points in 2003, and were even forced to go back to the drawing board after it was found that the R3 had a design glitch. They introduced a revised version of the car later in the season, and Eddie Irvine benefited from it to score their only podium of the year at the Italian Grand Prix. Webber is not ruling out a repeat of that in 2003.

"I'm a great believer in aiming conservatively high, if that isn't a contradiction. So, yes, it could happen," said Webber of scoring any podium finishes. "If, at a certain Grand Prix, Michelin has done a much better job than Bridgestone, and if we get a bit of luck and a few runners in front of us get a bit of bad luck, then, yes, why not?

"It worked out like that at Monza last year, didn't it? But it might easily not happen, too. I'm not going to make predictions either way."

Australian Webber was the man in charge of shaking down the new R4 last Friday in Belgium, and he is positive about the new Cosworth-powered machine.

"It looks good, certainly. As always, you get a few little snags early on â€" and R4 will be no different," said Webber. "That's inevitable. But I'm confident that it's a sound design. I think the research that's gone into finding out why R3 wasn't as good as it should have been was rigourously carried out, and the lessons have been learned for R4."

The team will test the R4 today at the Barcelona circuit.