Australia and England are bitter rivals in sport, so how will Aussie Mark Webber and Jaguar Racing’s new recruit, Briton Justin Wilson, team up at this weekend’s German Grand Prix?
Australia and England are bitter rivals in sport, so how will Aussie Mark Webber and Jaguar Racing’s new recruit, Briton Justin Wilson, team up at this weekend’s German Grand Prix?
Jaguar Racing’s goal at the mid-point of the season is to beat BAR-Honda to fifth spot in the constructors’ championship over the final five races of the F1 World Championship. The Milton Keynes-based team lies sixth in the points standings, just two points behind its Brackley-based rivals. The team has further been boosted by the arrival of Wilson, who has replaced the much-maligned former Williams-BMW test driver, Antonio Pizzonia.
However, Webber this week warned that it was getting harder to score points as the title battle between top teams Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Williams-BMW heated up.
“As always, I will be challenging for any points that the big boys leave behind, although at this stage of the game it is always much harder to find a point, given the pace and reliability of the big three teams,” said Webber.
“Although we have improved our reliability, our immediate competition has not stood still. Nonetheless, I am pleased with our progress to date – both on the R4 and the R5 development programme for next season,” the Australian added.
Webber described the revamped Hockenheim circuit, the venue for the German Grand Prix, as “a good, straightforward circuit”. “I won here with sportscars in 1998 and was on the podium again with F3000 in 2001,” he said. “The track requires medium to high downforce and I believe that the R4 will suit this circuit more so than it did at Silverstone two weeks ago.”
While much will be expected of Webber this weekend, Wilson will be allowed to settle into new team for the next two races, but will be expected to perform from the Italian Grand Prix onwards, Jaguar Racing managing director David Pitchforth said.
“Five races is not a long time, so in terms of what we are expecting to see from Justin, I think it would be fair to say that we are not expecting miracles,” said Pitchforth. “Hockenheim will be like winter testing for Justin, Hungary is likely to be more of the same. Monza is going to be his first real race and of course we would like him to achieve his best, whatever that may be”.
“Wilson will need time to adapt to a new team and car, but the support from the team both on track and back at the factory will be huge. Justin has a lot of experience behind him and we will certainly be looking for him to make the most of any opportunities that may materialise during the race,” Pitchforth added.
Webber has never been challenged by an equally-talented team-mate since he entered F1 at the beginning of last year. Will the highly-rated Wilson give Webber a run for his money – and possibly earlier than Pitchforth predicts?