Jaguar aiming for clean start

Jaguar is hoping to see its drivers get a clean start at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday after both Mark Webber and Christian Klien lost valuable places at the start of the Malaysian race. Webber was second on the grid at Sepang, the best qualifying position Jaguar has managed so far, and Klien 13th but the poor starts left the pair back down the field.

Mark Webber.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

Obviously disappointed, the team set about finding what had gone wrong and managing director David Pitchforth is confident the problems have been rectified. "To launch an F1 car from the grid requires a delicate balance of torque, too much and you have wheel spin, not enough and the engine revs drop and causes bogging and in turn the anti-stall kicks in," he said, according to the team website.

"The engineers spent a lot of time in Malaysian working out the torque levels but there are a lot of factors involved and we had underestimated the amount of grip that the tyres would have on the grid after the formation lap. After the anti-stall kicked in, Mark had to re-set but of course by then we had already lost numerous places."

"This was disappointing for us but the main thing is we understand what happened and we can now work on correcting this for future races," said managing director David Pitchforth, according to the team website.

"Although we were frustrated with the start, we all have to learn these things and now what is important is taking the action to ensure you don't suffer again. We are on a steep improvement curve and there are highs and lows along the way and as long as we keep learning, we will keep progressing."

Although Klien has made it to the chequered flag both times this season, Webber has yet to finish a race. However, the Australian is not disheartened and believes progress is being made. "I am confident that the team will take steps forward between now and Bahrain," Webber said while training for the upcoming race. "Our goal for the weekend will be to be competitive and to highlight the continuous improvement of the R5. "