Motorsport: Webber's new car roars

Motorsport reportJanuary 27, 2007

Powered by the Renault V8 engine that won world titles for the French manufacturer and Spaniard Fernando Alonso last year, the RB3 is the creation of British genius Adrian Newey, designer of F1 cars that have won more than 100 grands prix for Williams and McLaren and a dozen world titles.

"Undoubtedly some aspects of RB3 are 'McLarenesque' and are to some extent a development of the work I was doing when I was there," Newey says. "In other areas, there are derivatives of what has been done here at Red Bull and, of course, there are some completely fresh ideas."

Uncharacteristically, the Red Bull launch in Barcelona was much more about substance than style. Red Bull energy drink tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz says he wants the team to be "as ambitious where our sporting performance is concerned as we are towards entertainment".

"This still has to be achieved and this is why we doubled our budget, our people, updated our wind tunnels and, last but not least, asked Adrian Newey to join the team," Austrian Mateschitz says.

"We expect a podium here and there (in 2007), and number five in the constructors' championship (after finishing seventh last year)."

Webber is entering his sixth season of F1. The past five years have yielded just one podium -- at Monaco in 2005. His fifth place on debut with Minardi in Melbourne in 2002 remains perhaps his most memorable performance.

The past two years with Williams will be remembered more for the catalogue of retirements than results.

That is all behind the 30-year-old Aussie now and he declares himself "refreshed and revitalised" -- and enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere of Red Bull, which is a reincarnation of the Jaguar team for which he drove in 2003 and '04 -- and with which he made his reputation for speed. A recent survey in F1 Racing magazine ranked Webber the 43rd quickest driver in the history of F1.

Webber's teammate this season is David Coulthard, the Scotsman starting his 14th year in motor racing's premier division and winner of 13 GPs -- all of them in Newey-designed cars. This most likely will be the last season for Coulthard, who is two months away from his 36th birthday. For Webber, it will be a career-defining year.

"It is an important year,” Webber says. "I believe I can have a strong year. I am not the kind of guy who will drive around for 12th or 14th year after year. I will not do that. I want a step forward."

After his initial run in the RB3 at Barcelona's GP track, amounting to only 60km, Webber says the car "feels good -- but there are still a lot of things that we have got to get on top of".

"It is very, very early. I would absolutely love to be able to say, 'X, Y and Z'. But we have not got enough experience with this car yet. But my first impressions are that it will be good," Webber says.

Of the comfort in the cockpit for his lanky frame, he says: "It could be a lot worse, but we are looking at making it a bit nicer. But in terms of priorities, it is there on the list, but it is not right at the top. But come Melbourne (the season-opening race on March 18) I will be more comfortable in it.

"I want to have my best season. I have never finished really high up in the drivers' championship, but I want to make a good step in the drivers' championship. And, in turn, that will help the team in the constructors'.

"I can't control what David does, but hopefully if we are doing the same sort of thing give or take a bit, then hopefully constructors' wise we can do well. That will be good, but for myself I want to capitalise on a lot of those retirements that have happened in the past and put those into something good. I hope we can be in there a bit more.

"I am certain Red Bull will have by far the strongest season this team has ever had in all its various guises. But I think 2008 will be the year when we can really look for results. But then F1 is so unpredictable, so why not have a lucky day like Monaco last year (when Coulthard finished third).

"The feeling in the team is good. It's healthy. There's just a lot of general excitement and everyone's got a spring in their step. It's bloody exciting. We are going up against big manufacturers and we want to get amongst those guys. It's not just tooling around and not being competitive. We want to be competitive this year."

Webber and Coulthard have both questioned the wisdom of a new regulation requiring F1 cars to use two compounds of Bridgestone tyres in the course of each GP and say it will mean teams will opt for the least preferred compound for short, final stints in races when there is generally little overtaking.

"It's an absolute no-brainer that you want to use the worst compound for the shortest possible time at the less critical time of the race," Webber says. "So it's a bit strange that we have to use both compounds in the race." But he adds, a little sarcastically, "What the drivers say about that is absolutely not important."

Ford had supplied engines to Champ Car from 1992, then sold its engine subsidiary Cosworth to the Champ Car series' Australian co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven two years ago. Ford had remained the title sponsor of the series but has now ended that relationship, two years after it pulled out of F1 by selling its Jaguar team to Red Bull.

Ford remains heavily involved in NASCAR -- in all divisions: Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman pick-up trucks -- and in V8 Supercars in Australia, although it was revealed this week its new-model Falcon, due for release on the roads early next year, may not race until 2009.

World rallying is on SBS
SBS Television has done a three-year deal to telecast the World Rally Championship. TV sales and distribution agency Sportfive brokered the deal with International Sportsworld Communicators, the championship's global media and commercial rights, which ensures the WRC remains on free-to-air television in Australia.

SBS will start with a  one-hour highlights package of the recent season-opening Monte Carlo Rally at 1pm eastern Australian summer time tomorrow (Sunday, January 28).

"The WRC is such a high-quality production, featuring the most experienced drivers and gruelling roads throughout the world which makes for great entertainment for our audiences,” says SBS TV's head of sport, Ken Shipp.