Webber targets home GP victory

On the day he made his Williams testing debut at Barcelona (Tuesday), Webber told the Australian press that he hoped the new FW27 chassis would be good enough to challenge for wins straight away and give him the chance to become the first Australian to win his home F1 race.

"The car, I hope, will be very good next year and give us a good chance to challenge for victories very, very quickly," said Webber. "Straightaway I want to be up the front - that's what it's all about.

"We're striving towards grands prix wins, and if we win enough you never know what can happen. But championships are even harder to get, I assume. Wins are something that we have to look at immediately."

Williams of course won the final race of the 2004 season in Brazil, but Webber reckons that is no indicator for next year's form. "What happened in Brazil is long forgotten by the time we get to Melbourne," he said. "When we get to Melbourne we have to do our best to win races, and Melbourne is one race of 18 of the championship. Of course, it's always nice to try and get a special result in front of your home fans, and the pressure is only as much as you make it.

"I've got to go down there and be on top of my game, as I have at any other track around the world. Looking forward to putting on a good result down there in front of the home fans."

Webber, who begins his winter testing programme in Spain this week, can't wait to get started with his new team. "I can't wait," he said. "I want to get in the car and keep testing and improving that for next year.

"We've got three tests one the end of November and two tests early in December and that will be generally with the older car. And then the new car will be out in January/February some time, so that will be a very busy time in the lead-up to Melbourne.

"We will see how the winter goes. We could arrive in Melbourne in absolutely incredible shape, we really can. Or we can arrive there with still a lot more work to do. And how that turns out is the next three months that's ahead of us, but of course we will be disappointed if we're not on the podium at the first race.

"That's where we have to be, and - if the top step is there to be taken - then of course we will fight very hard to be on the top step."