Webber has high hopes for Monaco

Mark Webber has his eye on scoring points at Monaco next weekend – but the highly-rated Australian is already thinking about a first Formula One victory.

Webber has made great strides in his brief Formula One career so far, achieving the impossible in his first race when he scored points for Minardi in 2002 before moving to Jaguar in 2003.

He has dragged Jaguar up the grand prix grid in his time there – as well as comprehensively out-performing a string of team-mates – to make him one of the sport’s hottest properties.

Webber has been linked with a 2005 move to Williams – where fellow Australian Alan Jones won the world championship in 1980 – but for the time being he is concentrating on the job in hand.

With just one point on the board so far, Webber and Jaguar need to score soon and he is confident Monaco could be the place.

Webber’s pace in qualifying has at times been stunning and with Monaco’s twists and turns nearly impossible to overtake on, he sees the Saturday one-lap shoot-out as crucial.

He said: “Monaco is always a circuit I enjoy going to. I won in F3000 in 2001 and had a good race for Minardi in 2002.

“It’s a massive challenge and there’s absolutely no room for error whatsoever - the car’s constantly moving around. Like anywhere, the key to a good lap around Monaco is controlled aggression.

“I’ve been very happy with my qualifying performances in Formula One so far and Monaco is the one circuit on the calendar where you don’t want to get it wrong.

“If I had to pick somewhere to win my first grand prix it would be Monaco. It’s extremely prestigious and has a wonderful history and tradition – very much akin to winning a golf tournament on a links course.

“But, being realistic, it will be difficult to do this year and a good result for us would be to get into the points again.”