Webber looking forward to new circuits

Mark Webber is waiting for a closer look at the new circuits on the 2004 calendar, Bahrain and China, and hopes they will be challenging for the drivers. Sahkir in Bahrain is scheduled for 4th of April, the third Grand Prix of the season, and China's Shanghai circuit debuts on the 26th October, the 16th race of the 18 scheduled.

"I'm looking forward to those places and I've never visited those parts of the world before," Webber told the Jaguar website. "I always love going to new circuits and I hope they're demanding for the drivers, safe, provide a good environment for teams to work in and have some really good spots for fans to watch the cars.

"If all those are in place, then I'm sure they'll be good circuits. They're going to be hot races, which should put a strain on the cars as well. When the season gets nearer we'll have a closer look at the circuits in February, in Bahrain especially."

BAR's Takuma Sato recently visited China, while Jenson Button and team boss David Richards have been visitors to the construction site of the Bahrain track. Williams star Ralf Schumacher was the first driver to lap the Sakhir circuit earlier this month after the completion of the first layer of tarmac.

"From my drive around this circuit it is obvious that it will be fast, challenging and very demanding," said Schumacher after his lap of Bahrain in a BMW road car. "It has a combination of slow and very fast corners with a very, very long straight."

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