Webber happy to see result changed

Australia’s Mark Webber insists he will be happy to see Giancarlo Fisichella belatedly awarded victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix this morning – even though it could cost him his first points with Jaguar.

Webber, who finished seventh after sparking the post-race confusion in Sao Paulo last Sunday by smashing into a safety barrier, is set to lose the points when Fisichella is declared the winner at the expense of Kimi Raikkonen.

The Brazilian race stewards are reconvening at the Paris headquarters of FIA, the sport’s world governing body, to overturn a timing error that initially saw McLaren’s Raikkonen handed victory.

“It would be disappointing if the FIA decides to overturn the original race result but that’s the price you pay for making a mistake,” said Webber, whose car was left a one-wheel shell after his horrific shunt.

“It would be a bit of a shame but not the end of the world because there are a lot of positives to take out of the weekend.

“Personally, I think that Giancarlo might be awarded the victory and I’ll be happy for him because he’s a good friend of mine.

“I really don’t know how the leaders could have done two laps after the race was flagged but we’ll just have to leave it up to the decision makers. It does seem strange to me.”

FIA and Fisichella’s Jordan team, which should now celebrate its 200th race with a victory, have evidence which shows that the Italian had just started the 56th lap when the race was red flagged after Renault’s Fernando Alonso smashed into debris left by Webber.

That would give Fisichella, who wildly celebrated his ‘victory’ after crossing the line first, his maiden win after 110 attempts on the two-lap countback rule as he had overtaken Raikkonen on the 54th lap.

The Finn was awarded victory after several confusing minutes at Interlagos as stewards said the race was stopped on lap 55 and the classification should be based on the order on lap 53.

But changing the result will see Webber slip out of the points, with the Williams of Ralf Schumacher benefiting.

:: Formula One’s threatened breakaway series seemingly moved a step closer last night after all 10 teams signed up to the concept of the ‘Operational Agreement’ for the championship.

The team bosses met in Munich with representatives of the five major car manufacturers who formed the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC) in 2001 and threatened to run a rival event from 2008 if they did not win a bigger share of the television revenue.

A GPWC statement read: “The meeting was part of an ongoing development process and represents a key step for GPWC and the Formula One teams towards realising their common goals: achieving long-term stability for the sport, significantly increasing team payments and creating a more transparent commercial environment.

“The meeting’s agenda included a discussion on the future framework for the sport with a unanimous view to promote its long-term stability.

“The meeting resulted in all participants signing a memorandum of understanding and agreeing to work together to complete the Organisation Agreement on key features of the commercial and sporting structure of GPWC.

“GPWC believes these objectives are in the best interest of the teams and in the best interest of the sport.”