Think positive - that was the message from Mark Webber after the rising Australian motor racing star was eliminated from the fourth round of this year's FIA Formula 3000 Championship at Austria's A1-Ring circuit. 

Webber, who qualified his Super Nova Lola sixth fastest, was one of nine drivers forced out in the wake of a multiple pile-up at the first corner. Several cars were badly damaged, but nobody was injured.  He said: "I couldn't believe it. I didn't make the best start of my career and lost perhaps a couple of places on the run to the first turn, but it was no big drama. I stuck to the outside of the track because loads of guys were trying to steam up the inside, on the dirty side of the track, and I knew straight away a few of them were going to have trouble making the turn." 

By the time Webber arrived, front-row starters Patrick Friesacher and Sébastien Bourdais had already run wide and provoked a chain-reaction crash among the cars behind. "For those of us on the outside the track was totally blocked," Webber said. "I was trapped and had nowhere to go when a couple of cars came clattering into me. It was so dusty out there that I couldn't tell who was hitting who. All I know is that someone gave me a bang and that was that. It was completely out of my hands, really, because I was being as cautious as I could in the circumstances and that still wasn't enough to save me. 

"With the exception of our win at Imola we have had a pretty tough start to the season, especially in the last two races. But there's no point sitting around moping. There is a championship to be won and we have to pick ourselves up and make sure we are in tip-top shape for the next race in Monaco." 

Webber arrived in Austria on the back of a three-day tyre test for the Benetton Renault Sport F1 team at Valencia, Spain. "That went really well," Mark said, "but it took me a little time to re-adapt to F3000 when I got here because I had been used to high grip levels in F1, and the A1-Ring is a very low-grip track in any car. We knew the tyres would take a while to come up to temperature and we kept the same set on throughout the first qualifying session. When I set the sixth-fastest time I thought, 'That's all right. We are in the hunt." 

"I was confident that we would be able to gain a few places in the second session, but it began to rain after a handful of laps and that ruled out any chance of an improvement. Perhaps we weren't quite on top of our game, but I still thought I was handily placed to pick up a decent finish. Look at it this way - I qualified one-tenth of a second slower than Justin Wilson, and he won the race.”

"In championship terms, the result could hardly have been worse for us because Justin has extended his championship lead. But there are eight races to go and setbacks such as this just make me all the more determined to atone for what has happened this weekend.” 

"I am looking forward to the next race, because I really enjoy street tracks. I was competitive in Monaco last year and Super Nova has traditionally turned out a very competitive car at this event. We aim to test the F3000 chassis before we head for Monaco, to do a little fine-tuning, and I might also have some more testing work to do for Benetton. I might not have had the greatest result of my career today, but it's nice to be busy. It helps keep me fit, focused and positive." 

Championship points:

1. Justin Wilson Nordic Racing 25 points
2. Tomas Enge Nordic Racing 18
3. Bas Leinders KTR 12
4. Mark Webber Super Nova 10
5. Jaime Melo Jr Durango 8
6. Antonio Pizzonia Petrobras Jr 7
7. Darren Manning Arden Team Russia 6
8. David Saelens European Minardi 5
9. Sebastien Bourdais DAMS 4
10. Mario Haberfeld Super Nova 3
11. Joel Camathias KTR 2
= Patrick Friesacher Red Bull Jr 2
13. Fabrizio Gollin Coloni 1
= Andrea Piccini European Minardi 1

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