15/07/2004
NEWS STORY
Having already heard from the horse's mouth, so to speak, that Mark Webber is not, contrary to media speculation, joining WilliamsF1 before the end of this season, Jaguar boss David Pitchforth has gone on record as saying that he will not allow the Australian to leave early, even if he wanted to.
"Basically, Mark is not going to leave before the end of the season," Pitchforth told Reuters.
"There is not enough money that would make me release Mark before the end of the season," he added. "I've got more than enough money this year to run the team well, I don't need more funds this year. There's no reason why I would enter into any agreement."
The moment it was confirmed that Ralf Schumacher would be out for up to twelve weeks, certain sections of the media went into overdrive claiming that Webber and Jacques Villeneuve were both being considered as replacements. WilliamsF1 hasn't helped the situation however, by cryptically claiming that it will name Ralf's replacement on a race-by-race basis.
Marc Gene replaced the German in France and Britain, at which point Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, claimed that the German could be back in the cockpit as early as the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Although a "leading website" (sic) claimed that Webber was moving to WilliamsF1 in time for Hungary, nobody inside the paddock has ever taken the story seriously.
Apart from the wishes of Jaguar and Webber, one has to consider Flavio Briatore, Webber's manager. The Italian is hardly likely to sanction a move which could compromise Renault's championship ambitions.
Now we have both Webber and Pitchforth saying that the move won't happen, so hopefully the rumours will go away.
As to Webber's plans for 2005, the Australian has already said that he would love to stay at Jaguar and "finish the job", a sentiment with which Pitchforth concurs.
"I haven't done my sales pitch to Mark yet," he said. "I need to get it all in place first, but I need to do that and make it to him before he's been wooed and made any decision to go anywhere else.
"To get Mark to stay now I have to present him with a case that shows him we've got the funding and the plans to take the team forward."
Although contracted to the Milton Keynes team for 2005, the Australian has a performance clause in his contract, which kicks in in Hungary, if the team hasn't met the conditions it will be powerless to prevent him leaving.
"If the team is not performing at the right level, he can look to moving on," admitted Pitchforth. "If we had been higher up in the championship, I'd have been in a position where I could have made him stay. But we're not in that position."