MOTORSPORT: Vettel on verge of true greatness

Sebastian Vettel is still only 24, has already won 18 GPs and could clinch his second Formula One world title in Singapore on Sunday night, while Mark Skaife contemplates racing on in V8 Supercars

Webber's patience wearing thin

Formula One wonderboy Sebastian Vettel could become the sport's youngest dual world champion this weekend, while Mark Skaife is keen to keep racing V8 Supercars -- something that almost certainly would preclude him taking up the chairman's job on the category's new commission.

And ahead of F1's only night race, the Singapore Grand Prix, Australia's F1 driver Mark Webber has had a spat with a member of the media, branding him a "f...... w....r" and "f...... pig". It has been reported at Pitpass.com that Webber was enraged yesterday when the journalist asked him if he felt frustrated that Red Bull teammate Vettel had won this year's world title -- which he hasn't yet.

"Oh yeah ... I'm gonna go and hang myself mate," Webber is reported by Pitpass.com to have retorted. It said Webber suggested the journalist was a "f...... w....r" and then, when the journalist interrupted as Webber answered another journalist's question, called him a "f...... pig". Webber was otherwise reported to have been frank and honest in response to a wide range of F1 questions.

Despite his collision with Ferrari's Felipe Massa early in the Italian GP two weeks ago, which resulted in Red Bull Racing's only non-finish this season, Webber said his recent form had been "a lot better" than early in the year, when he struggled with the new Pirelli tyres. He again commended Vettel on "a great year" but said his dominance had made the championship boring, even though the racing had been better than last season, when the title fight went down to the wire.

Leading Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by 112 points, Vettel can clinch a second straight world title if he wins in Singapore and Alonso is not on the podium and neither McLaren's Jenson Button or Webber, equal third in the championship, finish second. Even if it is not this weekend, there are five more GPs -- all outside Europe -- for the 24-year-old German to clinch it. He is yet to win in Singapore, while Alonso has won two of the three GPs on the city-state's street circuit and been on the podium in the other.

Webber was third in Singapore last year and his thoughts on this weekend are contained in his regular column on the BBC's website, here.

There is a likelihood of rain in Singapore on Sunday night, although there has been in previous years and it has never eventuated. Still, it is a race the drivers find one of the most demanding -- because of the humidity, even at night, with cockpit temperatures about 50 degrees C, the track is bumpy and tight and it generally takes most of the allowable two hours to complete.

Vettel already has won eight times this season from 13 starts -- 10 of which have been from pole position. Webber was on pole in the other three GPs but has not won a race this year. Vettel has made it clear that he is going to continue to go all out to win races rather than cruise and collect points.

"It would be wrong to drive with the handbrake pulled, thinking 'I just have to finish,' " he said yesterday. "If there is a chance and a gap, we have to go for it. If not, there is no reason to try something stupid.

"Our target coming into the season was to defend our title. We are in a very good situation, so there is no reason to change that... It does not matter when, it matters to us that it happens... I don't feel any extra pressure trying to win the championship here. We just have to remind ourselves what our goal was coming into the season."

Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey has told of how impressed he has been with Vettel's willingness and ability to learn from his earlier mistakes as he becomes the complete package. "What's so impressive about him is that he very rarely makes the same mistake twice. He learns and he keeps confounding the critics," Newey said. "Last year people were saying he's great if he gets out in the lead but he can't overtake people. People won't be saying that after the last few races."

Vettel is on a hat-trick in Singapore, having delivered victories at Spa in Belgium, where he was comprehensively outpaced by Webber until qualifying, and at Monza in Italy, where he produced a brilliant pass of Alonso, who had jumped into the lead at the start.

Adam Cooper, now a veteran of 26 years as an F1 correspondent, wrote of Vettel on America's Speedtv.com this week: "Clearly he's had the best car for much of the year, but look at what he's done with it compared with his teammate (Webber), and aside from his little slide on the last lap in Montreal (the Canadian GP) he's been almost without fault."

Cooper said that Webber -- and Ferrari's Massa -- needed to use the remaining races this season to prove a point. While Webber is contracted to stay with Red Bull for another year his performance is coming under increasing scrutiny.

Eddie Irvine, who was the great Michael Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari and came close to a world title in 1999, said this week: "For me, Webber is not a top driver." Irvine said that he wanted to see McLaren's 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton in a Red Bull car. "Then we will see how good Vettel is, because one thing we already know is that Hamilton has beaten (dual world champion) Alonso in the same team."

Irvine, whose opinions have often been too raw for many in F1, took a swipe at 2009 world champion Jenson Button as "doing nothing special", although there is talk of him possibly replacing Massa at Ferrari. "He (Button) knows he will never again be world champion and he drives accordingly," Irvine said. "Lewis on the other hand absolutely wants to be champion again and so he's too aggressive. He fights not only against the others but again himself -- in some races he has been simply stupid."

Irvine described Vettel as "very, very good" but added: "many drivers have taken a title in Newey's cars."

Flavio Briatore, manager of Webber and Alonso, said that while Vettel was on top now Webber was in contention to be runner-up and "this is an achievement that should not be underestimated". "Michael Schumacher's teammates often did not succeed (at Benetton and Ferrari)," Briatore said.

Meanwhile, Spanish team HRT's Italian driver Vitantonio Liuzzi has rated Alonso still the most complete driver in F1 -- and his 22-year-old Australian teammate at HRT, Daniel Ricciardo, the driver in F1 with the most potential.

Skaife may race on beyond this year's Bathurst

Mark Skaife's comment at Phillip Island last weekend that he would not necessarily retire completely from race driving after next month's Bathurst 1000 is now starting to make some sense. It has been thought that Bathurst would be Skaife's swansong because he is due to take up the chairmanship of the new V8 Supercar Commission.

However, according to a report in the News Ltd press today Skaife is considering racing for perhaps another four years because of the form he has shown in winning the past three endurance races with Craig Lowndes for Triple Eight/Team Vodafone.

"From a business standpoint I am very keen to do that (commission chairman) role, but on the other hand, racing, at this point, is also very important," Skaife said in the article. "I am trying not to think too much about it now, but it is something I will have to talk to people about after Bathurst."

Skaife said his preference would be to race as well as head the commission but he added, quite rightly, that rival teams may block that.

"The commission role is something that is very important for the sport and I obviously have to be careful and mindful of some of the concerns the other teams may have if I continue driving for another team," he said. "But ... the result I had on the weekend (winning the Phillip Island for the second straight year, as well as Bathurst for a sixth time last October) makes me think that I need to do the best thing for me over the next three or four years."

Ambrose one of four to finish every NASCAR Cup race

The second of the 10 races in NASCAR's Chase for the title is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a one-mike (1.6km) oval. The first Chase race at Chicagoland Speedway was delayed a day because of rain but was eventually won by Tony Stewart -- the 16th different winner this season.

Kevin Harvick leads Stewart by seven points going into the New Hampshire round.

Although Australia's Marcos Ambrose isn't among the 12 driver who made The Chase he is one of only four drivers to have been running at the end of all 27 Cup races this year -- the others are Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman.

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MOTORSPORT: Vettel on verge of true greatness

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