Jaguar comments after Aussie GP

By steve
March 7 2004

Here's what the Jaguar team had to say following todays Aussie Grand prix................................................................

Mark Webbers comments:
"Of course, I am disappointed not to have finished today at my home race, but these things happen and you have to take the rough times with the smooth."

"The boys did an excellent job in preparing the car for me and it was clear that we were competitive out there, as I settled into eighth position and kept on Montoya's tail. The balance of the car was good, so to have lost sixth and seventh gears is frustrating since we have not had this problem before, and have completed over 6000km of testing."

"At a race where we are at 65 per cent throttle, I could not continue with only five gears and we had no choice but to retire. The R5 has been good all weekend and I am pleased with the progress that we have made versus last year. I posted some good aggressive laps out there and there is more to come from us. Roll on Malaysia."

Christian Klien's comments:

"To have finished my first grand prix race in eleventh position is fantastic. I was frustrated at first to be starting in 19th position, however, it actually allowed me to work my way up a few places and build my confidence."

"My start was slightly slower than I had hoped, but the track was really grippy. I managed to stay out of trouble and, when I saw the opportunity to overtake the Toyota of Oliver Panis, I took it."

"I am really pleased with the balance and set-up of the car, Cosworth and Michelin have done a great job and my mechanics prepared the car really well. It 's good to have these laps under my belt now as I head to Malaysia for the second race. I will be working hard on my fitness between now and then in order to be as prepared as I can be for the extreme heat that I have been warned about."

Dr Mark Gillan [Head of vehicle performance]:

"It's been a good weekend for us overall, but we are of course disappointed not to have had Mark finish his home race. The R5 had been reliable all weekend and we had completed 6000km in testing, with 2000km of these being in the last two weeks."

"The loss of gears that Mark experienced is not something that we have had before, so we will be working hard during the next two weeks to ensure that we understand this."

"Christian has done a good job over the last three days and to see him finish eleventh in his first race is very encouraging for us. He has enjoyed good balance and set-up and, despite starting at the back of the grid, delivered a strong race. Completing the race distance is very important for him at this early stage in the season and, again, his pace over the course of the race was consistent."

"We now look ahead to our next race in Malaysia confident that we have a package that we understand and one that is clearly competitive versus the rest of the grid."