Wilson keen to nab maiden points

Rookie Justin Wilson is determined to finally score his maiden Formula One points in Canada this weekend.

The 24-year-old has impressed onlookers with his performances in his seven races for Minardi so far this season.

But despite reaching the chequered flag on a couple of occasions Wilson’s 11th place in Spain last month is his best result to date.

“I am happy with the way it has gone for me this season but I want some points in the bag now,” said Wilson, whose unique £1.2m (€1.7m) share issue to partly fund his breakthrough drive was oversubscribed when it closed recently.

“It would be great to get the points in Canada this weekend. The intention at the start of the season was to be regularly challenging for points with the new scoring system but it hasn’t quite worked out the way we hoped.

“We have been hit by the good reliability shown by other teams and the fact that we can’t test apart from on the Friday morning of race weekends has not helped.

“It’s a bit frustrating, but I knew that would be the case when I started so I am not complaining. This will all stand me in good stead for future years.”

The Sheffield-born racer has been hampered with Minardi having the smallest budget in Formula One and there are doubts whether they will be on the grid next season.

But that has not stopped Spain’s Fernando Alonso and Australia’s Mark Webber using their rookie seasons with Paul Stoddart’s outfit as a catalyst for finding a more competitive drive.

Wilson wants to emulate the duo, now with Renault and Jaguar respectively, and he knows with Sunday’s race in Montreal marking the mid-way point of the campaign that it is now when talks over who goes where in 2004 begin in earnest.

“This is a very important part of my season to try and improve myself and get myself something sorted out for next season,” said the Northamptonshire-based driver recently.

“Hopefully I can progress and be in a more competitive environment next year. That’s what Paul is hoping I can do and that’s what we’re all hoping I can do. It’ll be sad to leave. But Paul expects me to move on as he did with Mark and Fernando.”

The 6ft 3in driver, who has more than matched experienced team-mate Jos Verstappen, has been linked with a move to join Jaguar to partner the equally tall Webber.

Wilson has never raced on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is situated on an island in the St Lawrence Seaway, and neither has fellow rookie Ralph Firman.

The Jordan driver is also looking to get back among the points having broken his duck with eighth place in Barcelona.

“We’ve had a reasonable test session in preparation for Canada, and the most valuable thing for me was to get more time in the car,” said Norfolk-based Firman, who had a two-day outing at Silverstone last week.

“I’m getting more and more comfortable with it now and I’m really looking forward to Montreal as it’s always enjoyable to learn new circuits.

“I’ve only seen the track on TV but it looks really interesting because there seem to be overtaking opportunities and good racing so I hope we’ll have the chance to get in the points again.”