Webber: The vultures have been waiting for last three of four year
13 March, 2013
Mark Webber pre-Australian GP promotion at a school in Melbourne
Michael Schumacher’s retirement has thrust Mark Webber into the role of Formula 1′s elder statesman, but the hard-bitten Australian believes he still has the tricks to keep the “vultures” away from his Red Bull driver’s seat.
Webber will line up at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as the oldest driver, clinging to another one-year contract with Red Bull and batting away suggestions his 12th season in F1 and seventh with the British-based team will be his swansong.
“I never ever expected that it would be such an interesting topic that I would be the oldest on the grid,” Webber, who will turn 37 in August, told reporters on Wednesday.
“I didn’t even see it coming until the last few weeks. I don’t feel the oldest on the grid. You feel you’re the oldest on the grid if you’re back on the grid getting blown away, but that’s my job to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Mark Webber performs a burn out during the Top Gear Festival in Sydney
Webber claimed two victories at Monaco and Silverstone last year, but finished a disappointing sixth in the drivers championship after suffering back-to-back retirements late in the season.
He was again put in the shade by his younger team mate Sebastian Vettel, who collected five race wins on the way to a third consecutive title.
Despite media speculation linking a number of willing candidates for a coveted place in an outfit that has won the past three constructors championships, team principal Christian Horner has backed Webber to continue at Red Bull beyond 2013 if he continues to deliver.
Webber conceded that speculation over his contract had proved a distraction before he re-signed in 2012, but said he had become used to it.
“I think it was Kimi (Raikkonen) who was supposed to replace me in 2009,” he noted dryly. “It comes with the territory when you’re in a top team and you’re at the back end of your career. The vultures have been on the branches for the last three of four years, that’s just the way it is. But there will be a day where I stop.”
Mark Webber made his debut at the 2002 Australian GP with Minardi
Webber’s age was brought into sharp focus on Wednesday as he strained to remember early impressions of his career in an interactive session with a group of five and six-year-old school-children sitting obediently on a mat before him.
Quizzed about his most stressful race and the number of crashes in his career, Webber, clad in a pair of jeans and a team shirt, candidly told the wide-eyed group that his racing enthusiasm was still fired by “adrenalin”.
He later told reporters he was “absolutely, completely capable” of pushing for Australia’s first championship since Alan Jones’s sole triumph in 1980 with Williams.
Webber will enjoy the company of another Australian on the grid in Daniel Ricciardo, who will race a second season with the Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso and along with French team mate Jean-Eric Vergne, might be expected to graduate to the senior outfit.
Daniel Ricciardo wiath Mark Webber
Like Webber, Ricciardo has set a goal of becoming Australia’s third world champion after Jones and Jack Brabham, who put the country on the F1 map with his titles in 1959-60 and 1966.
Having two Australians on the grid was an achievement in itself, Webber said.
“Daniel’s been doing his stuff well. I think that coming from Australia it’s very difficult. The strike rate of young drivers getting to Europe is very, very low,” he added.
“It is hard to leave these shores and go and race over there, getting through those junior categories, which he did well.”
Underlining the generation gap between the two drivers, Ricciardo literally bent over backwards in the cause of his career on Wednesday, as he contorted himself into unnatural poses with a touring hip-hop dance act next to Melbourne’s Yarra river.
Ricciardo said the possibility of stepping out of Webber’s shadow and into his driver’s seat was an idea to relish, rather than treat with apprehension.
“I wouldn’t say anything’s too scary,” Ricciardo told Reuters. “In terms of hopping into a seat like that, it would be exciting. It always gets talked about, particularly early on in the season.
“I’ve got a big task ahead and I’m sure (Webber) wants to do his job this year so if it happens one day, it would be exciting.”
Related posts:
- Red Bull likely to keep faith in Webber beyond 2013
- Webber: Decent chance I will be in F1 next year, let’s see who it is with…
- FIA preview, Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne
- Horner: Webber is going to be a contender this year
- The Formula 1 history books are waiting
Just get the Start sorted!. so many good work in qualifying was given away at the start last year. let hope to see MW in position gain than position loss at start LIST in 2013. good luck!.
@Stewy
I agree with you, although Mark cost himself with his driver error in Korea.
Funny some one says Mark did nothing while racing for Redbull… People have a short memory that Mark should of won the 2010 world title and not Vettel.
I wonder what Webber’s excuses will be this year.
After 11 years in F1 including 3 years with the best car, he’s done nothing and his driving decisions in Interlagos last year were deplorable. He’s lucky to have a seat at RBR this year, imo.
Well said Mark keep them at bay. Old is a state of mind. I am almost 68 and I still climb the mango tree to pluck the juicy mangoes. Keep going Mark. Best of Luck for this season
webber’s car always gets the wrong gearboxes and kers units.as soon as redbull sees that constructors championship is closer or webber qualifies on pole with vettel second,mark always botches the starts
Mark can hold his own but is amazes me his car get’s all the breakdowns, I would love to see the transmissions from Marko’s private pit to car console.
Much as I respect the straight-shootin’ Aussie, he’s now a solid Number 2 to Vettel, which is no surprise given the young German’s excellence over the past 3 winning seasons. Red Bull doesn’t need anything more than the strong pairing already in place in order to win championships, as they’ve proved. As for Mark, he’s no doubt disappointed to be consistently outscored by his team-mate, but there’s no shame in being Wingman to an Ace.