Jaguar warns off Webber interest

Many people believe Williams is keen to get hold of Mark Webber to fill the vacancy left by Juan Pablo Montoya come 2005, but Jaguar boss Tony Purnell has underlined his intention to keep the Australian star. Webber has impressed with his performances at Jaguar and he is contracted to the team through 2005, as Purnell reminded rivals at the launch of the R5 in Barcelona on January 18th.

Mark Webber.

Photo by Nikki Reynolds.

"Everyone keeps saying Williams are going to ring up. They haven't," he said. "It's up to us to show him that this team is worth sticking with. We definitely would like to keep him and we've already got an agreement to keep Mark in 2005. We've got some contractual things that are on our side. The atmosphere he brings is very positive, he feels part of the team."

Webber himself is keeping his sights focused on the immediate future and is not about to let the attention go to his head: "I am very, very committed to them until 2005," he said of Jaguar. "If various other teams are quite happy with what has happened then that is a nice pat on the back but this game is one of the most fickle sports in the world so I'm not waking up thinking about the big teams each day."

While the title is beyond Webber's hopes in 2004, he believes it will also be unattainable for current champion Michael Schumacher: "I think we will definitely have a new champion this year," he commented.

"Michael will be deposed. I think Kimi (Raikkonen) will give it a real shout and either of the Williams drivers will definitely be right up there. It is going to be a tough year for Michael because the momentum will be with the other two teams even though Ferrari did well in the last two races of last season. Michael did a phenomenal job last year to scrape it out of the bottom of the canyon and get the championship."