Minardi's Mark Webber has said he expects a strong performance from his new team mate Anthony Davidson this weekend when the BAR tester makes his competitive Formula One™ racing debut in Hungary.

Davidson has been brought in by Minardi for two races as a temporary replacement for Malaysian driver Alex Yoong, who has failed to qualify three times this season. Despite the fact that he has not driven for the team, or at the Hungaroring before, Webber predicted the 23-year-old Brit would make a significant contribution to Minardi's efforts.

"It was getting quite frustrating for the team, obviously Alex having some problems in qualifying again, so it is good that he (Davidson) should comfortably, obviously, qualify and it will be nice to have someone to be able to compare a bit more stuff with," said Webber.

Davidson won last year's European Cup in Formula Three and also finished runner-up to Jordan driver Takuma Sato in the British series. And although he has never competed in F1™, Webber is confident his development work with BAR will stand him in good stead in Hungary.

"He has done a lot of laps with BAR in testing so that is a positive thing," said the Australian. "You do your Formula Threes, your Formula 3000s and all that sort of stuff, but F1 testing is a good way for you to get a feel for what goes on, especially on a Grand Prix weekend, so that is a good thing for him to have up his sleeve."

Davidson's BAR colleague Jacques Villeneuve echoed Webber's comments. The former champion said a full-race distance at the demanding Hungaroring would provide a stiff test for Davidson, but insisted that he would be up to the task.

"This is one of the most physical tracks so I guess it will be good for him to find out how physical it can be and how much training is needed," said Villeneuve. "But he can do a good job. He has done a lot of mileage and he has done a solid job as a test driver."

Davidson is contracted to BAR until the end of 2006, but the team have excused him from his usual testing programme to allow him to compete in this weekend's race and the next round of the season in Belgium with Minardi.