By Site Staff
January 17 2003

As usual, the F1 merry-go-round sparks a huge amount of speculation around the mid-season mark over who will be driving for what team next year. Did anyone know that Mark Webber had talks with Toyota over a 2003 drive ? Several media outlets have carried quotes from the popular Australian stating that he was indeed in conversations with Toyota, and that media speculation that he was in line for either a BAR or Sauber drive were way off the mark.

"We did have some talks with Toyota but I was never going to BAR and Sauber," Webber has been quoted as saying. "I would say Jaguar was always the keenest on me. They knew what they wanted early in the piece and went for it - which was reassuring and a nice luxury to have in this game."

The ex-Minardi driver comprehensively outshone his less experienced team mate, Alex Yoong, last year in the AsiaTech powered Minardi and is set to be a relatively unknown quantity with Jaguar this year. Webber has rising star Antonio Pizzonia to act as his bench mark in 2003, and is un-phased by the challenge at Jaguar. "I think Antonio is a very quick driver and for me it's good to have a fast driver in the neighbouring garage because if I can beat him, I'm doing a good job. I'm sure things will be very close between us throughout the season."