Mark Webber aiming to fight for victories
Mark Webber made it clear on Friday that he intends to fight his Red Bull team-mate and defending double champion Sebastian Vettel for victory, if possible, in this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: May 11, 2012 05:52 PM IST
Mark Webber made it clear on Friday that he intends to fight his Red Bull team-mate and defending double champion Sebastian Vettel for victory, if possible, in this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The 35-year-old Australian, who is 11 years senior to German Vettel, knows that consistency is not enough on its own for him to launch a serious challenge in what looks like being a wide-open title fight.
He said: "I've been consistent and I realise I need to keep doing that, but I also need to win as well. When the opportunity isn't there to do that, you need to finish, but 25 points makes a big difference - although if you are in the fence that makes a big difference as well!"
Webber has finished fourth in all four races this year in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain - a consistent run that has lifted him to fourth in the drivers championship.
He is also one of only three men to have scored points in all four races this year, but in a closely-contested season he believes he has to take all his chances in his bid to land a first drivers crown.
"It was frustrating to finish in Lewis' gearbox in Melbourne, in Malaysia and in China as well," he added.
"It is always nice to get points at each race and you could not have thought that would have been the case because it has been so up and down.
"But I think it is a new situation right now. Who is going to be on pole this weekend? It could be McLaren or Red Bull, Mercedes, Renault (Lotus). It could be Ferrari. So it is very unusual in that sense.
"It is probably less so as we get a bit of information in P2, but before the weekend we are not really sure who is going to do what - and Monaco is going to be unknown again. We don't know until we get there."
After four races this year, there have been four different winners - Briton Jenson Button of McLaren, the 2009 champion, German Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Vettel, last month in Bahrain.
Webber has won seven of his 180 Grands Prix to date, but many of those were run for non-competitive teams before he began driving for Red Bull. He finished third in the drivers championship in both 2010 and 2011.