Mark Webber and Jaguar Racing are on the roll in this second half of the season with a 3rd straight finish in the points: 7th in Canada, 6th at the Nurburgring and 6th place again at the French Grand Prix; even under the old scoring system which only gave points up to 6th... that would still be 2 in a row, a first for the team.

What a difference a year, or even a few months, make! A year ago, Jaguar was fighting Minardi at the back of the grid and Ferrari was flying away from the rest of the field on Bridgestone tires that were consistently quicker than Michelin. Over the winter, Michelin made a huge step forward, which is paying off for Jaguar and it significantly improved R4. Williams BMW are now closing in on Ferrari in the l championship, with McLaren Mercedes a close 3rd. In the drivers standings, 5 times World Champion Michael Schumacher is ahead by a mere 8 points whereas in 2002 he clinched the title at the French GP with 6 races remaining...

It took a while for things to come together for Jaguar with a few DNFs early in the season which left the team languishing behind in the constructor championship. It the past few races, things have improved and Mark Webber solid drives are paying off with Jaguar Racing leaping over Jordan-Ford and Sauber into 6th place, only 1 point behind BAR Honda. Unfortunately, 5th place is really the best Jaguar can hope for this season has 4th place Renault is 40 points ahead...

Once again this season, rain was a factor and friday qualifying started on a wet track, drying as the one hour session went by. With the runing order set by championship standings, Pizzonia ended up in 6th place nearly half a second quicker than Webber (8th) but still nearly 4 seconds behind the .. Minardi of Jos Verstappen. Yes.. Minardi... who were able to send their drivers on dry weather tires at the end of the session apparently after Mark Webber told fellow Australian and Minardi Team owned Paul Stoddard that dry weather tire would work better.

Final saturday qualifying saw a return to normal with McLaren, Williams and Ferrari fighting for the top spots and Renault trying to get in as well. Mark Webber was able to qualify in 9th place, just over a second of the pace, and Pizzonia in 11th. Once again, the Michelin rubber made the difference with Williams BMW claiming the front row (2nd pole in a row for Ralf Schumacher) and the Ferraris being the only Bridgestone runners in the top 10.

Race day, things went smoothly for Jaguar with Mark Webber running in the points most of the time and Pizzonia close behind. Jaguar obviously benefitted from Brazilian Rubens Barichello spinning his Ferrari at the end of the first lap and later on from the retirement of both Renaults due to engine failures. Mark stayed on the lead lap ahead and grabbed 6th place behind another 1 - 2 finish by Williams BMW, the Ferrari of World Champion Michael Schumacher and both McLaren Mercedes.

Next stop, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Jaguar's home race and with the team gathering momentum, another step up the championship ladder past BAR Honda is very possible.