Sunday March 3rd, 2002

World Champion Michael Schumacher expressed his delight for Australian Mark Webber and the Minardi team after checking out their performance in Sunday's Australian Grand Prix on the radio.

Ferrari driver Schumacher, who cruised to victory in dominant form, admitted his mind was on the little team during the race after discussing their position with his own team. And after praising their efforts he suggested he would head down to the other end of the pit lane and join in their celebrations.

"Honestly, I was thinking in the car, I was actually very delighted for them," said Schumacher. "I guess it's going to be a big, big party happening tonight for them. Maybe we are going to join them and have some fun together. You see, Minardi, they are so long around and it's not happening very often for them to have the occasion to get points.

"I was told by my team that he (Webber) drove a very good race and he scored really the fifth place, he really earned it. He had a good battle with Salo so I'm more than happy for them. It's really pleasant to see these guys, I really - how you say - I feel just happy for them that they achieved that."

Minardi failed to score a point last year, and have not made it into the top six since Marc Gene finished sixth at the rain-hit European Grand Prix in 1999. The last time the team scored more than one point in a season was in 1994, and it is their first points since Australian Minardi boss Paul Stoddart took the helm last year.

It was the perfect way to head into the Malaysian Grand Prix in two weeks' time, as the team is heavily backed by Kuala Lumpur and several companies from Malaysia.

Published at 08:14:03 GMT