Christian Horner has advised Mark Webber to put his focus back on track.

Red Bull’s team boss admitted he was disappointed and surprised with the Australian’s comments in Brazil, with Webber suggesting it is “f***ing obvious” that Sebastian Vettel receives the bulk of the emotional support despite the points situation.

Speculation is now rife that, despite having signed a 2011 contract, it is likely Webber’s last race in a Red Bull will be next Sunday’s championship finale in Abu Dhabi.

“If I had a message for him, it would be ‘Let’s focus on the racing’,” said Horner. “Let’s get on with it.”

He dismissed the histrionics so far this weekend as “mind games” and a push for a favourable team strategy, but advised Webber to instead work hard to beat his teammate on merit.

“No one wants to be gifted a championship and he owes it to himself to go out and finish the job,” said Horner.

“He has had a great season winning some of the great races, like Silverstone and Monaco, and he needs to focus on redelivering that kind of form.”

The apparent disunity is also a psychological gift to Red Bull’s championship rivals, with Fernando Alonso already admitting this weekend that he is happy with the situation.

And McLaren’s Jenson Button said: “He (Webber) is obviously all over the place after the last race, binning it, and suddenly he’s behind, chasing.

“He hasn’t got the margin anymore and there is a lot going on in his mind, I guess, because of that,” added the defending world champion.

Red Bull is nervous about not throwing away the 2010 world championship, and McLaren will be there to pick up the pieces.

That is the gist of the mind games being played in the media by McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

“I think it would be tough to take for Red Bull to lose the championship now,” he is quoted by the Guardian newspaper, nearing the end of a season marked by the difficult off-track relationship between the two British-based teams.

Whitmarsh said he hopes the title-charging inexperience of Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, and the championships already in the bags of McLaren and its two drivers, will show up in the run to the Abu Dhabi finale.

“I hope it’s massively important and decisive.  Both our guys know what it’s like – even if you’re leading a championship – when the pressure comes.  It’s very easy to get defensive and tight,” said the Briton.

Whitmarsh also said Red Bull “can be disappointed” that their championship lead is relatively small despite having easily the fastest qualifying car for much of 2010.

“That will be weighing on their minds as we get into the championship finale.  I’m sure they feel some sense of frustration,” he said.

Reigning world champion Jenson Button admitted in Korea that he too has been attempting to out-psyche Red Bull’s Webber.

“Everybody plays mind games,” he said.  “It was fun because I have been in his position.  They did it to me last year.

“It’s the little things, like me saying, Are you feeling the pressure, mate?  You always get a reaction, even if they say, Nah I am not feeling it,” added Button.

With just under two weeks until the action resumes in Korea, F1′s title contenders have reverted to the media to step up their sparring.
Lewis Hamilton said recently that “mind games” towards the end of a championship battle is entirely “normal” in formula one.

But it is his own McLaren teammate Jenson Button who fired the first salvo, with help from most major British newspapers who faithfully reproduced his comments.

Most columnists see the Briton’s prediction of a win for Sebastian Vettel over his Red Bull teammate and championship leader Mark Webber as an obvious piling of pressure on the pair.

“Vettel has to beat Mark twice more to be on the same points,” he said. “And going into the last race with equal points, I’d say Vettel has the legs (on Webber) in qualifying,” said Button.

In the Spanish tongue, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – who like Vettel is 14 points behind Webber – is also deviating from his usual style of defensive media management to fire a few quotes in Red Bull’s direction.

“They are the favourite for all the remaining circuits and all the ones beforehand,” he is quoted by El Pais newspaper.

“But in 16 races they have only managed three doubles (one-twos), so I doubt they can do three more,” added the Spaniard.

Alonso, a two-time world champion already, is therefore stacking the odds in his favour.

“The most important thing is that the points situation has been coming my way. Now it has to continue.

“There are still three races to go and I know I can do it,” he said.

Italy’s La Stampa quotes him as adding: “Three more podiums should be enough.”

The Ferrari-loving Italian press at large is also in on the action, sensing a tension at Red Bull and noticing that Webber was only present for Vettel’s team victory photo in the form of a cardboard cut-out.

Corriere dello Sport said their apparent reluctance to fight one another at the head of the Suzuka field revealed a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ had been reached.

Spain’s EFE news agency quotes boss Stefano Domenicali as talking up Ferrari’s title chances.

“If we do a better job than them in qualifying, we can beat them on race pace. We knew Suzuka was a difficult circuit for us so it was good to see the result,” he insisted.

“Now the world championship is very, very open. We have three races left in which anything is possible,” added the Italian.

Red Bull’s dominance has been curbed because it is no longer fielding an illegal car, according to Lewis Hamilton.

The 2008 world champion said that after the team’s RB6 utterly dominated in Hungary in August, the tighter FIA flexibility tests have obviously affected the pace of the Adrian Newey-penned car.

“Good question,” McLaren driver Hamilton told Bild newspaper on a visit to Berlin this week.

“In Hungary they were 2 seconds per lap faster than the rest of us.  It is simply impossible to have a lead like that.”

When asked specifically if he thinks Red Bull were cheating earlier in 2010, Hamilton answered: “We have always kept to the rules.

“Our people wondered if their car was legal and we asked the FIA.  After that Red Bull had to rebuild their car and take a step back.

“It was a good decision by the FIA,” said the Briton.

He was also asked about the apparent psychological warfare being deployed by his championship rivals at present, particularly by his former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.

“It’s normal that, at the end of a season, the mind games begin.  I’m strong enough and ready for it.  I’m not worried, but I think it’s best if you just do your talking on the track,” said Hamilton.

And despite almost writing off his championship chances after Singapore, Hamilton now insists he is ready for the challenge of the final four races of 2010.

“I was back at home in Zurich for one day; I woke up in the morning and went for a run in the forest with rap music on my headphones.  So I’ll be back,” he insisted.