Mark Webber has admitted he is focused on overtaking his rivals to take second place in the drivers’ world championship.
With the drivers’ and constructors’ titles now both in the bag, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said recently that helping Webber climb from fourth to second is the team’s remaining objective for 2011.

Asked if he is happy to give up wins so that Webber can outscore Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, world champion Vettel admitted: “Yeah, definitely.”

Australian Webber told India’s Mid Day: “The entire team is behind me in support for the number 2 position.

“With the constructor’s title in the bag, and Seb having won the drivers’ title, a Red Bull one-two in the drivers’ championship will be a great achievement and a fantastic way to end the season.”

And ahead of 2012, Webber denies he will be under pressure to finally beat Vettel for ultimate spoils.

“Not really,” the 35-year-old insisted. “In fact, I think the pressure is on him because he has to defend.”

Sebastian Vettel has hinted he might be willing to give up a race victory to help his team perform a perfect score in 2011.
Red Bull and the 24-year-old German have already secured the constructors’ and drivers’ world championships, but Mark Webber currently lies in only fourth place behind Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button with three races left to run.

Webber has failed to win a single race in 2011 compared with Vettel’s ten so far, so the Australian might need some help to curb the 13-point gap to second place.

“With three races left, we hope for the best results possible for ourselves but also for the team,” Vettel is quoted by the AFP news agency.

Agreed team boss Christian Horner: “He (Webber) has had a very strong year and we want to get him second in the drivers’ championship.

“That’s our remaining target for the remainder of the year — to get him a race win and finish the season in style.”

When asked if that might involve him giving up a win so that Webber can reach the top step of the podium, Vettel answered: “Yeah, definitely.”

 The interest in Ferrari’s 2012 front wing in Korea left Fernando Alonso annoyed.
“I think it’s to do with the team, not the journalists,” La Gazzetta dello Sport quotes the Spaniard as saying in Korea, where his 150 Italia was fitted with the radical new wing.

Media reports analysed in detail the difference between the new and old wing and its performance in Korea relative to the regular specification driven by Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa.

“As I’ve said before, in these last four races we need to learn a lot about 2012,” Alonso said. “Gaining or losing a tenth is a very low priority at the end of this season compared to finding the direction for next year’s car.

“We are working with a specific goal that is not easy for you (reporters) to understand,” he added.

“I do not think the readers are interested to get up in the morning and read about three or four points of downforce, certain diameters — I think they want to know who is fourth or fifth or whether you are working for the grand prix or the next year.

“The details seem very superficial to me.”

On the radio towards the end of Sunday’s Korean grand prix, Alonso was heard to tell his team “I give up” — a call rarely heard from the double world champion.

Alonso insists his focus is on what will make the 2012 season better.

“I will come to work (in 2011) to gain experience for the things for next year,” he is quoted by AS sports newspaper. “We can try some experimental parts and also (experiment with) how to deal with the weekends.”

The 30-year-old is currently third in the drivers’ championship.

“If we can get one tenth (for the 2012 car) from the information and yet finish fifth in the championship, I would sign it now,” insisted Alonso.

“No one expects us to come to India and have the pole and the win. Expect us to be fourth or fifth in qualifying and third, fourth or fifth in the race,” he said.

With the drivers’ title now in Sebastian Vettel’s hands and Red Bull almost certainly to be the champion team, the issue of motivation is an interesting one in the Yeongam paddock.
Teams are now focused on 2012 and testing new components, but the drivers must still line up on four more grand prix grids.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, 8 points behind runner-up Jenson Button and 8 ahead of Mark Webber, said on Thursday: “I think finishing second, third or fifth in the drivers championship is not a big difference.

“Once you cannot be world champion it is not any more a big interest on that.”

The simple pursuit of victory is therefore the motivation, the Spaniard explained.

“I think we all want to win, in any race we participate in. Even when we do the race of champions in December, for fun, if we finish second it’s a very bad feeling, and a very bad night,” said Alonso.

Vettel – who could go on holiday rather than travel to India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil in the next six weeks and still be champion – added: “I think the moment you come to a race thinking that it doesn’t really matter where you finish it’s the moment when you should probably stay at home.

“We love racing, we will enjoy racing as usual, but we will not be happy leaving this track knowing that we could have done better,” said the German.

And Lewis Hamilton said: “To me, racing is the biggest part of my life apart from my family and it doesn’t matter if it’s a practice race or whatever, it still holds significant value to me.”

Another possible motivation, according to former Ferrari driver and Italian commentator Ivan Capelli, is money.

“It depends on their contracts,” he told AFP France. “Some have incentives for points scored, wins, poles …”

And as for the multi-millionaires like Jenson Button, Alonso and Hamilton, Capelli added: “I think that once they get on the track, they want the prestige.

“It’s like a new championship even after the title, where they can say maybe ‘Well, I finished (the season) scoring more points than Vettel’.”

Fernando Alonso on Saturday night qualified third for the Abu Dhabi grand prix, but on the pitwall Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was pumping the air in celebration.

If the Spaniard can just hold position on Sunday, he will win the 2010 world championship.

“We are in a strong position,” he confirmed.

Mark Webber is the big loser of the floodlit qualifying session, only doing enough to qualify fifth and apparently heading for just third in the drivers’ championship.

He positively leapt from his RB6 in parc ferme, got weighed in a hurry and headed straight out for his television interviews, managing to avoid all of his rivals.

“I’m not rapt of course but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet,” said the downbeat Australian.

Despite Sebastian Vettel being on pole position, the session is bad news overall for Red Bull. If the German goes on to win, he will lose the championship by 5 points.

“We got pole but no one else read the script,” said the team on Twitter.

As it stands, Vettel will not be able to deploy a voluntary team strategy during the race, because a couple of McLarens will be in the way — not to mention Alonso.

“I need to do a better job tomorrow,” Webber acknowledged.

With McLaren’s charge fading and Fernando Alonso going it alone for Ferrari, the rivalry between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will be in the spotlight during the now three-race run to the 2010 world championship.

Red Bull’s racing duo, although separated by 14 points, are right in the fight for the drivers’ championship; an individual’s prize that often sees teams back one driver over the other.

This year has seen Vettel and Webber swing between being the obviously favoured son to the downtrodden number 2 driver, but team boss Christian Horner has once again reinforced their status of equality.

With Alonso charging alone with the – albeit reluctant – support of Felipe Massa, the competitive rivalry between Webber and Vettel, and the fact the pair are obviously not friends, is a problem for Red Bull.

But boss Horner insists: “We are fortunate to have two level-headed and strong-willed drivers.

“And while that inevitably poses challenges at times, it is a luxury problem to have,” he insisted.

It might be a luxury to have two competitive drivers in the running for the title, but with Ferrari’s solitary Alonso chasing their heels, Red Bull runs the risk of losing by not focusing on a single driver.

“The dream scenario would be to be able to pull out a big enough gap to all those behind that it was just down to them on track,” Horner admitted in Japan.

“But as a team we are trying our best to support both drivers equally and both drivers are very much still in this championship,” he added.

John Watson, a former race winner with McLaren, thinks it is the potential trouble in the Red Bull camp and resultant Turkey-like situations that might keep McLaren in the title fight.

At Suzuka for example, Webber pulled out a further 3 points in his championship lead simply by finishing behind Vettel.

But he couldn’t resist spoiling Vettel’s perfect day by bettering the young German’s coveted fastest race lap on the final tour.

“I couldn’t let him have a full house,” the Australian remarked.

Noted BBC commentator Martin Brundle: “The team must have great angst with the risks of this unnecessary mind-game late in the race.”

And Watson told the BBC’s radio Five Live: “I’m concerned by the internal machinations between the Red Bull drivers.

“That’s going to be the biggest ray of light for Hamilton and Button.”

Red Bull’s two drivers will take different approaches to the last four races of 2010, team consultant Helmut Marko has revealed.

Mark Webber is 11 points clear at the top of the drivers’ championship, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel – 21 points further adrift – is also still in the running.

“With Sebastian we will take an aggressive strategy, while with Mark we can be safer and let him drive more defensively,” Dr Marko is quoted by Germany’s Auto Bild.

German Vettel, 23, confirmed that he is not prepared to write off his chances of beating Webber and his other rivals to the title.

“It will be tight but I’m optimistic,” he told the German language TV Movie.

“There are still four races to go; to throw in the towel now would be stupid,” added Vettel.

He said recently that Suzuka, the scene of next weekend’s race in Japan, was “made for” Adrian Newey’s RB6 car.

“We still have to go there and prove it,” said the 2009 winner and pole sitter.

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.”

From Periphery to 1:20 1:1,75-top favorites: Mark Webber is surprised to lead to Monza still the drivers’ championship
Five races before the end leads to Mark Webber still the drivers’ championship – five points ahead of Lewis Hamilton, 21 ahead of Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button 22 states and 24 ahead of Sebastian Vettel. This was before the season is not necessarily to be expected, so the Red Bull driver was traded by the bookmakers in March than 1:20 outsider to the world title.

He is now with a ratio of 1:1,75 hottie – and that it would lead to Monza the points classification, would have thought possible a few months ago, hardly anyone: “If someone had offered me to be after this race in the lead, I would have bitten off the arm for it, “laughs Webber. For with Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, perhaps the most difficult race for Red Bull are already behind him.
From now on, it should be rather better: “In Singapore,” he looks at the upcoming race, “we expect a good result. I can not wait. It is a unique race under floodlights, and the track should suit us if something is worth Monaco. The performance has shifted a bit, but not much, and the next race talk should be good for us. But does not help us, but we have to get performance. ”

That it is in world title fight as the leader in a good position is located, is aware Webber: “It’s always nice to have the points on board,” he says. “The other guys have to catch them first. This is not a bad condition for the last five races.” However, one should not overstate the intermediate results, because this season are still to be awarded 125 points.

Red Bull’s 2010 title charge would be easier if F1 dropped a race, but Mark Webber is confident the sport is still headed to Korea.

There have been widespread doubts about the readiness of the new Yeongam venue for its inaugural October 24 date; one of the remaining seven rounds this season.

Australian Webber is currently leading the drivers’ championship by a slender 4 points, and he admitted on Thursday that he would be feeling more comfortable if there were fewer races still to run.

“If this was the last race,” he said at Spa-Francorchamps, “then we would be in a very good position. But you can’t think about it that way.

“Obviously if there were 30 races left then our position would be worse than with 6 or 7 to go.

“But I think we are going to Korea and we are going to race there,” added Webber.

The optimism about Korea of Webber, who turns 34 on Friday, could be significant, given Red Bull’s participation in the circuit’s inaugural laps late next week.

Karun Chandhok is scheduled to drive a Red Bull show car around the new Korean layout next Saturday.

“It will be a real honour to be one of the first people to drive around the new Korean circuit,” said the Indian driver.

Michael Schumacher insists that his struggle to get up to speed in his formula one comeback season is due to Mercedes’ 2010 car.

The seven time world champion is just ninth in the drivers’ championship after 12 races, 56 points behind his teammate Nico Rosberg and yet to stand on the podium.

“Looking at the points table then of course we cannot be satisfied,” German Schumacher, 41, told his sponsor DVAG in an interview.

“But there are reasons why the deficit is so great,” he explained.

Brackley based Mercedes GP was purchased by the German marque from 2009 drivers’ and constructors’ champions Brawn, and according to Schumacher it is for this reason that the W01 is not performing well.

Jenson Button said recently that the car, with a tendency to understeer rather than provide Schumacher with the ‘pointy’ front that he desires, was designed for him before he decided to switch to McLaren.

Schumacher confirmed: “This is the car that was put into our hands.

“It is a remnant of what was created last year,” he explained. “As a result there are many compromises that the driver has to deal with.

“The car is not at all in harmony with the tyres, or also with us as the drivers,” said the record winner of 91 grands prix.

Mercedes has now effectively turned its development attention to the 2011 car.

“We have to ensure that the (new) car blends correctly with the drivers, and we are on the right track to be competitive in 2011,” Schumacher continued.

“We are working harder than ever so that we can go for the titles.”

Flavio Briatore does not think Ferrari will be heavily punished by the FIA for the Hockenheim team orders affair.

The governing body is set to consider the matter no later than September 10 at its scheduled World Motor Sport Council meeting in Como, Italy.

Ferrari breached article 39.1 of the sporting regulations by ordering that Felipe Massa give way to German grand prix winner Fernando Alonso, and was also charged by the race stewards with bringing the sport into disrepute.

Former Renault boss Briatore was banned from F1 last year by the World Motor Sport Council for the Singapore crash scandal.

He told Italy’s Sky Sport 24: “This (team order) rule makes no sense and should be abolished.  Formula one is a team sport.

“I don’t believe Ferrari did anything wrong,” added the 60-year-old Italian.

“Fernando has more points than Massa and it is logical to bet on the driver with the best chance of winning the title.

“Could it have been better handled?  It’s easy to say so with hindsight, but during a race it’s different.

“It is however clear that Massa’s engineer (Rob Smedley) should not have made certain comments.  But only one guy can win the drivers’ championship.

“It is pointless to stand around being critical.  It is the rule that is completely absurd,” added Briatore.

He does not think Ferrari needs to worry about draconian penalties like exclusion from the world championship or race bans.

“The chairman of the World Council is Jean Todt, who managed Ferrari when in 2002 in Austria he ordered Barrichello to let Schumacher overtake at the chequered flag, so I think we can all relax,” laughed Briatore.

Lewis Hamilton crashed his McLaren towards the end of the morning practice session at wet Hockenheim on Friday.

In tricky conditions that also caused many of his rivals to spin or run off the German track, the McLaren driver lost control on the exit of turn three and made sideways contact with the barrier.

“The car is damaged — heavily,” he sheepishly told his team by radio before angrily emerging from the MP4-25, featuring a revised blown exhaust update that McLaren is testing at Hockenheim.

Jenson Button, second in the drivers’ championship behind Hamilton, also radioed the pitwall during the session, complaining about “terrible” rear handling issues.

Shortly afterwards, as a dry line began to emerge, Bruno Senna marked his return to the HRT cockpit by beaching the car in the gravel at the final corner.

Ferrari is not prepared to give up on its 2010 car, despite falling off the pace last weekend in Turkey.

Fernando Alonso failed to make the Q3 qualifying session at Istanbul Park, while Felipe Massa was the Maranello team’s highest placed finisher — behind the Red Bulls, the McLarens, the Mercedes and the Renault of Robert Kubica.

Ferrari’s F10 will feature a specific low-downforce bodywork package in Montreal next weekend, before a big update of changes is debuted at Valencia later this month.

Spain’s AS newspaper believes the Valencia update will include a major repackaging of the rear end and exhaust system.

But team boss Stefano Domenicali denies that if the upgrade fails to pull Ferrari back to the front of the grid, Ferrari will begin to focus on 2011.

“We are not going to stop developing this car — we are not throwing away these races so far,” he is quoted as saying.

Even though the Italian media is decrying Ferrari’s “disaster” and “crisis”, Alonso is only 14 points off the lead of the drivers’ championship.

Domenicali insisted: “We will continue working on the F10 until the end of the season.”

He told lne.es: “The championship is still open and we have seen that anything can happen in the races.  We will not give up.”

Spaniard Alonso agrees that Ferrari is still in a position to fight for the title, arguing that no matter how good the Valencia upgrade, it will not be enough to close the gap to the front.

“We know that McLaren and Red Bull are very far away and we don’t know if that’s enough.  We have to work hard,” he said.

He told La Razon: “We don’t know how long it is going to take, but the truth is that we are almost eight tenths from Red Bull and 6 or 7 tenths from McLaren, and these developments (for Valencia) are not going to give us that much.”

(GMM)

Robert Kubica has admitted he is worried about whether Renault is fully prepared to perform on the streets of Monaco this weekend.

The Pole, who switched to the Enstone based team following three and a half years at BMW, said he has always enjoyed a specific bodywork package for the unique street layout.

“Unfortunately we don’t have a specific downforce level for here,” he revealed to reporters on Wednesday.

“Normally from the past I was used to having some different wings with more downforce.

“Drag and efficiency is not so important here in Monaco, but we will be using practically the same wings as all year, so we will have to see if our downforce level is good for here,” he added.

The 25-year-old is currently eighth in the drivers’ championship, having finished four of the five races so far in the points.

(GMM)