Mark Webber is yet to secure his place at Red Bull for the 2013 season.
Team boss Christian Horner said the Australian has a “spring in his step” after a strong winter following Sebastian Vettel’s dominance last year.

But as for the future, he said that will only be discussed “in the summer”.

“We’ve extended his contract on a year by year basis, I think that’s something that Mark and the team agreed was the right way forward,” Horner told Sky Sports.

“His motivation is high at the moment, he’s still delivering and undoubtedly will sit down later in the summer to discuss the future.”

The biggest threats to 35-year-old Webber’s place are rookie team Toro Rosso’s new signings, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Horner admitted the young duo is “being groomed for the future”.

But the real tension for Webber will be in the Red Bull garage, as another trouncing by Vettel could signal the end of his tenure.

“(Vettel is) probably one of the best, if not the best driver on the grid at the moment and that’s what Mark Webber’s got to come up against, unfortunately,” 1980 world champion Alan Jones told News Limited newspapers.

“This is why I think Mark’s really got to come out of the blocks flying, he’s got to come out firing.”

1980 world champion Alan Jones has backed Caterham’s decision to dump Jarno Trulli.
Despite having extended the Italian veteran’s contract for 2012, the former Lotus team decided at the last minute to sign the well-backed Russian Petrov.

Caterham explained that Petrov brings “fresh impetus” to the team, whilst also admitting that the decision was made “with a realistic eye on the global economic market”.

One French report has calculated the 27-year-old’s sponsorship contributions at EUR 12 million, including money from Russia’s largest petrochemical company Sibur.

But the straight-talking Australian Jones, who won Williams’ first drivers’ title three decades ago, said Caterham was also right to oust Italian Trulli on performance criteria.

Told that Heikki Kovalainen “destroyed” Trulli in 2011, Jones said: “I think he was destroyed by everybody, wasn’t he?”

On Caterham’s decision, he told GMM: “In my opinion Trulli wasn’t doing the job so it would have made it a pretty easy decision to get in this younger guy who is perhaps a bit keener, a big hungrier.

“It’s also a fact that he (Petrov) is bringing in money, so to me it’s a no-brainer,” added Jones.

 A former world champion has dealt Lewis Hamilton a mild rebuke after the Briton refused to appear at Adrian Sutil’s assault trial.
Not only did the McLaren driver defer to his team’s looming car launch date rather than leap to his former friend’s aid in Munich, he has also refused to contact Sutil or answer a single question on the matter posed by the media.

Sutil’s father has called the 2008 world champion “pathetic” while the former Force India driver himself described Hamilton as a “coward”.

“I don’t know whether you’d call him a coward,” 1980 title winner Alan Jones told GMM, “but I don’t know whether I’d like to have him in the trenches with me.”

Hamilton, who recently reunited with his girlfriend Nicole, had a tumultuous 2011 season and so this year will be accompanied to races by experienced manager Didier Coton.

When involved with Mika Hakkinen’s career, Coton worked for the management company headed by Keke Rosberg.

“In the past, Lewis has certainly made mistakes in the professional organisation of his life,” Rosberg, backing the changes Hamilton is making, commented to the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

“You can’t go flying every other week to America when you’re making a serious job of being a formula one driver,” he said.

Keke Rosberg also questioned a recent claim made by the 27-year-old Briton.

“He says he wants to win all the races this season. That’s quite a claim.

“I would think Jenson Button wonders how he will do it when he will probably win a few races in the same car,” said Rosberg.

 Amid all the ‘ugly’ talk, Alan Jones doesn’t mind the look of F1′s field of 2012.
With McLaren the notable exception, every team has incorporated an awkward ‘step’ into its nose design as the optimum solution to new FIA rules.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motor sport director, recently decried the look as “pig ugly”.

But 1980 world champion Jones doesn’t think so.

“I don’t think aesthetics matter, and anyway I don’t really find them (the 2012 cars) particularly ugly,” the Australian told GMM.

“There’s a couple of interpretations of the new nose that aren’t as nice as some of the others, but there are a few out there that don’t look too bad at all,” said Jones.

“And I’ve never seen an ugly car in the winner’s circle,” he smiled.

Meanwhile, another former world champion – 1982′s Keke Rosberg – described McLaren’s solution as aesthetically pleasing, but hopes the British team has not made a mistake by going a different route to the rest of the grid.

“At least it’s nice looking and I wish the others would have done the same,” said the Finn.

“Jenson Button is quite a big guy and he has said he is sitting significantly lower than last year.

“If it (McLaren’s solution) suddenly becomes a problem for them, with the chassis already homologated then that’s just what they’ve got,” he told the MTV3 broadcaster.

Alan Jones will make his debut as a formula one steward in Korea in two weeks.

At the inaugural Yeongam event, the 1980 world champion will join the ranks of former drivers who have officiated this season alongside regular FIA stewards at grands prix.

“They call on the experience of an ex-driver to help the stewards make a better decision in the event of anything happening on the track,” Australian Jones told SpeedCafe.

“As an ex-driver, the officials simply ask for my opinion,” said the 63-year-old winner of 12 grands prix, and Williams’ first champion.

However, there is still great uncertainty about whether the Korean race will go ahead at all.

The latest word from Suzuka is that Charlie Whiting’s FIA inspection of the track next Monday will in fact take place over two days.

The outcome of the inspection will therefore not be known until Wednesday — just 8 days before the first practice session is scheduled.

This weekend at Suzuka, it is another former Williams driver – Austrian Alex Wurz – fulfilling the stewards role.

The 36-year-old veteran of 69 grands prix, who last competed in 2007, made his debut as an FIA official in China in April.

With just 3 or 4 races to go in 2010, there are no more signs that Red Bull is set to throw its full weight behind championship leader Mark Webber’s title tilt.

The Australian would openly accept number 1 status over Sebastian Vettel, and recently consultant Helmut Marko indicated the team would soon consider the possibility.

But Vettel, who remains 21 points behind Webber, put his campaign back on track with a strong weekend in Singapore, and afterwards announced his intention to push on.

“The drivers championship is still open,” said the 23-year-old German in Singapore.

According to the German newspaper Die Welt, he announced that he and Webber have agreed to a “professional approach” to the next decisive races.

And “We will find out who is better,” Vettel is quoted as saying.

It means that of the three top teams in with a chance of the 2010 title, only Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso can currently count on the backing of his teammate.

“It is almost inevitable with the way the season has swung backwards and forwards that this will go right down to the wire,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

Alan Jones, the last Australian to become world champion in 1980, backed his countryman to beat Vettel in a dog-fight.

“I think if it gets down to a bit of a head-game, I’ll back Mark every time,” said the former Williams driver.

“It’s a fascinating championship,” added 63-year-old Jones.  “We haven’t had one like this for years, where five people could become world champion with four races to go.”