Webber less than happy with third
May 23, 2005 - 2:14PM
It was his best Formula One finish and gave him a breakthrough podium spot, but Mark Webber's third place at Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix left him subdued and frustrated.
The Australian described his start from third on the grid as "a joke" as yet again he was left stranded, losing two places immediately.
He was held up early by the intransigent Jarno Trulli in his Toyota, unlucky to be leap-frogged by teammate Nick Heidfeld later, then was stalled behind Fernando Alonso's Renault wearing worn tyres.
Webber made it clear his finish behind winner Kimi Raikkonen in a McLaren and Heidfeld was less than he expected.
Williams-BMW has come under intense scrutiny for poor starts in recent grands prix and Sunday's effort in Monaco was no different.
"The start was a joke, it was very frustrating that I didn't get away at all," Webber said.
"The clutch didn't really work at all, so that was a shame.
"On the formation lap I didn't get away at all well either.
I radioed through to the guys and said I think we're in a little bit of trouble with the clutch.
"We made a small adjustment but it was nowhere near enough.
"The start is 90 per cent car so anyway, that was frustrating, especially in Monaco. It's not exactly Monza."
Webber is the first Australian on the podium of a Formula One race since Alan Jones won the 1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix the year after he became Williams' first world champion.
His previous best finishes were fifth on debut in a Minardi at the Australian GP in 2002 and fifth at the event again this year.
Webber still was able to describe the overall race as "pretty good."
"It was going to come, I suppose, so it's great to do it here in Monaco," said Webber.
"It's been a good track for me here in the past but I didn't manage to do the maximum today, so (that's) disappointing."
Williams acknowledged the problem immediately after the race with engineering boss Patrick Head, agreeing even more work was needed.
"One big thing is we have got to learn to get off the line better because it doesn't matter where we qualify if we can't get off the line well," Head said.
"I think here it was a setting problem but there are other problems associated with it so both BMW and ourselves are working on it."
However, Head said that Webber's breakthrough could be a boost for the rest of the season.
"I think it will be good for Mark," Head said.
"Obviously there's a little bit of annoyance in him that his teammate, that he was quicker than all weekend, ended up finishing ahead of him - but that was really just down to the order of pit stops and things."
BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen also hinted that the Monaco result could prove significant for the team's season and inferred both Webber and Heidfeld could have done even better, but for bad luck.
"Both drivers got stuck behind slower cars for most of the race distance and only the overtaking manoeuvres at the end set them free," Theissen said.
"At the end of the day we have a great result for both drivers and the entire team.
"It is the best result of our season so far and reminds us of the Monaco Grand Prix of two years ago which marked a turning point."
