"We have done a lot of work in testing with the new car and I think we have made progress, even though testing was difficult sometimes," Schumacher said, "Melbourne is a great place to be. As well as the city, the track is one of the most beautiful streets circuits in the world and I really enjoy driving there. Because it is a street circuit, the surface of the track tends to be dirty and that means it is quite low on grip, especially early in the weekend. I just hope our car will suit the track and we will have a nice result this weekend."
Trulli agreed that the TF107 still needed work, despite two extra days of testing after the Bahrain group session at the start of the month.
"We had some issues to work on, but we have pushed hard over the winter and I am looking forward to this weekend with confidence," the Italian insisted, "A lot of work has been done on the new car and we expect it to be more competitive and more reliable [in Melbourne]. There are always big question marks as we prepare for the start of a new season because it is so hard to judge things from winter testing, but we have the motivation to succeed, so I am optimistic."
Red Bull Racing – David Coulthard (#14), Mark Webber (#15):
Whether or not Red Bull Racing goes to Melbourne with a potential race-winner, it will be assured of the majority of the crowd support, having snapped up local hero Mark Webber from
Williams over the winter.
Despite not being able to match the emotional success of his fifth place on debut with Minardi in 2002, Webber remains a strong pull for the Australian audience, and he is hoping that his return to what was former employer Jaguar Racing can finally provide a car with which he is able to fulfil the predictions that accompanied him into
F1. It has not been all plain sailing for the team over the winter, however, even with renowned aero expert Adrian Newey having penned the RB3.
