May 6 (GMM) Mark Webber has stepped away from his comments of last week by insisting a move from Red Bull for 2012 is “unlikely”.
The Australian had told an Italian newspaper that if his current team “doesn’t want me any more” he could not rule out a change of teams as opposed to retirement.
That rekindled rumours about Ferrari, with Webber telling F1’s official website on Thursday: “I always look good in red.
“But Red Bull is what I associate all my success with, so the only red is in Red Bull, as when I wear Red Bull colours I think of success,” he insisted.
Whether he stays, however, depends on him being offered a new contract, and a prime mover in that decision will be the curt Austrian Dr Helmut Marko.
“At 34, Mark is no longer at the beginning of his career,” he is quoted as saying by Die Welt.
“I know other drivers who are trading a similar path as Sebastian (Vettel) did,” added Marko, surely referring to Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi and Daniel Ricciardo.
And if Marko consults Vettel, there is no guarantee the 23-year-old will not ask for a new teammate for 2012.
Asked in Turkey about his relationship with Webber, a year after their crash at the same circuit a year ago, the German answered: “Sometimes you get along well with your teammate and sometimes you don’t.
“I am fine with him. We have a common understanding. We might not be best friends but show me a couple in formula one who go to the pub in the evening for a beer.”
As for Webber’s future, Vettel answered: “I know that Mark is racing alongside me here and all the races this year, after that happens we will see then.”
Until the future is clearer, it’s an awkward period for Webber. “If I want to talk to Fernando and go to the Ferrari motor home, what happens then? Exactly, rumours,” he said on Thursday.
