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IN the year since his dream debut at Albert Park, Australian Formula One star Mark Webber has become much wiser and much, much wealthier.
Along with national fame, Webber gained experience and earned respect in his rookie grand prix season with F1 minnow Minardi, making him more valuable to a bigger team.
What he learned as he battled gamely to make an impression from the back of the grid, and the sheer grit he displayed in getting the best out of his under-powered machine, convinced the traumatised Jaguar team he was the man to lead its recovery.
Webber was the right man in the right place at the right time -- and at the right price -- to join Jaguar, which had overspent and under-achieved in its first three seasons. The laconic 26-year-old replaced F1's most colourful driver, veteran Eddie Irvine, whose speed rarely matched his fast talking and did not justify his $12 million a year salary.
Jaguar Racing is paying Webber a fraction of that amount, but for a young driver who went deeply into debt to mortgage his F1 future on the promise of his talent it is a significant sum.
What it means, mainly, is financial freedom because he is being paid well enough to be able to repay his benefactors.
"I'm through the worst of all the junior categories where you're scraping through," Webber said during a rare break from preseason testing in England.
"I've paid back all the people who've helped me get there.
"It's all done, so it's for Mark Webber now and it's nice to know that the effort that you're putting in is for your (financial) future. Now I'm in the best position I've ever been in, so it's good."
Although it is not his first year as a paid racing driver, it is a far different arrangement to last year when he effectively drove for Minardi for nothing.
He was paid by the Renault F1 team, to whom he was still under contract after being its test and reserve driver in 2001.
"I was getting paid (before Jaguar), but I was having to shift a bit of it off as well (to repay loans)," Webber said.
"The last 15-16 months I've been in the...