For the WilliamsF1 team the 2006 season has started with some encouraging performances, qualifying third and fourth in Malaysia as well as scoring points in the first race in Bahrain. For team driver Mark Webber this weekends Australian Grand Prix will give them another opportunity to challenge the form team at the moment Renault.

At the launch of his charity challenge Mark spoke of the WilliamsF1 team performances up to this point and for their chances in the race in Melbourne.

Mark said: "My prospects for this weekend are pretty solid, I would say. We have got off to a pretty good start performance wise, but it was just unfortunate that we were not reliable enough in Malaysia to finish the job off there.

"Melbourne being a month later than normal could be potentially cooler than usual, so that could make some difference, but the form card is that Renault are very strong and all the other teams after them are pretty even. There is a lot to be grabbed after them."

As for his chances in this weekends race Mark was reluctant to commit himself apart from saying that he hoped the team could give the teams fans something to cheer about.

Mark added: "We have got to wait until Friday to see what the performance of the car is. There is no point predicting what could happen. We are up against some reasonable operators out there. It is a tough event and we have got some reliability issues to get over from the last race.

"I hope I can give the home fans something to cheer about long into the night. But dreaming doesn't get you anywhere in this game – you have got to go out and walk the walk. No-one is interested in a shopping list of excuses about why it is not happening for you. You have got to go and do it."

Even though the team is yet to get the best out of their Bridgestone tyres one factor in their favour was having the experienced Alex Wurz as their Friday driver. He has been able to provide very good information to the team.

Mark said: "We need to understand them event-to-event, condition-to-condition. I think Bridgestone have been stoked with the job we have done for them in terms of our experience with Michelins, and the winter testing was probably harder for us than the races.

"The biggest factor that is that Alex Wurz is able to do the long runs for us on Fridays. We get good information from that in Bahrain and Malaysia, but they were hot races.

"We still have a little bit work to do in understanding the car in slightly cooler conditions, but we have surprised ourselves already and hopefully we can do it again."