MOTORSPORT: Webber's seat safe?

But will it be?

Almost a week on from the stoush over team orders, with Webber defying instructions not to try to overtake world champion teammate Sebatian Vettel in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix (but not succeeding anyway), it seems on the surface that no great harm has been done to Webber's prospects of a contract extension.

He has said this week that he's in "positive" talks with the team about a renewal.

"Christian [Horner, RBR team principal] and I had a chat about the situation after the race. We both put our cases forward and I think we came away seeing it from both perspectives," Webber said.

And Mateschitz told Autosport magazine this week that Webber contemplating a late move on Vettel was "no problem for us".

"Sebastian realised that Fernando Alonso [who won the race for Ferrari] was gone and could not be caught anymore, so he backed down. This let Mark close in. He would be a very bad racer had he not tried to attack and gain a position.

"Mark Webber will re-sign with us. This will happen for sure.

"He is very popular within the team, he feels very comfortable and it is an excellent relationship. He knows this and we know it… Mark has no better choice than the fastest car and we have no better choice for a fast driver."

We have made the point here previously that no team other than Red Bull will have a car designed by the genius Adrian Newey next year, which is the biggest reason for Webber to stay. And -- with Robert Kubica sidelined by injury this year, although he is now insisting he will be back with Renault next season -- there is no obvious, uncontracted, experienced F1 racer worthy of replacing him.

The other three youngsters Red Bull already has in F1 (Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi at Toro Rosso, and Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo at Hispania Racing) are at least another year away from serious consideration for a seat at the top team. And one or two of that trio may fall by the wayside in the next year anyway.

So Webber remaining at Red Bull should be clear cut then?

This author is strongly inclined to believe Mateschitz. Yet there are factors not to be discounted -- one is that Horner says a decision won't be made until late August.

Vettel, undoubtedly Red Bull's blue-eyed boy, has said his preferred teammate would be Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 world champion now in the world rally championship and dabbling in NASCAR, although he recently told a Finnish journalist: "I have never said that my formula one career is over."

And Dr Helmut Marko, Mateschitz's powerful motorsport consultant, recently told Germany's Bild newspaper: "We have other options, but I don't want to talk about them now."

Bild claimed "top secret" plans were being hatched with Raikkonen. However, Horner has said he believes Raikkonen "has put F1 behind him".

"I think his head is in a different place than F1 at the moment. So far I've seen no signs that he wants to come back," Horner said.

For the past couple of months there has been a lot of talk that McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was the man Red Bull wanted to partner Vettel. But Hamilton is contracted to McLaren for at least next year, and Red Bull is unlikely to be impressed by Hamilton saying this week that he doesn't want to do any promotional appearances in the five days preceding GPs in his next contract.

Raikkonen may well want such a clause in any deal too if he were to return to F1.

In any case, Mateschitz says any talks Red Bull has had with Hamilton -- there was one reported conversation between him and Horner in a GP paddock -- were not about a contract to drive for RBR.

While the team orders spat last Sunday at Silverstone may have been a big storm in a teacup and have calmed down since, Bild quoted Horner saying of Webber: "I understand that he's racing, but he also absolutely unnecessarily risked a crash. If all 500 people in the team thought only of themselves, we could never achieve our goals."

On what was required in the driver who partners Vettel next season Horner said: "He must bring harmony to the team." And: "We don't have a driver problem; everyone in the pitlane is already beating on our door, and we have time."

So what to believe?

The safest bet is to take Mateschitz at his word – that is, Webber stays. But are Horner and/or Marko working on something else? And, if Webber is still the man for the seat, as Mateschitz says, why does confirmation have to wait another six weeks or so?

One reason could be to maximize the exposure the uncertainty guarantees. Unless it's not as certain as Mateschitz says. Or unless Webber is going to walk away – not into retirement, but perhaps to Renault. Even Ferrari, if Felipe Massa were to be tipped out with a year still left on his contract?

Surely common sense will prevail in the end. Webber and RBR are still right for each other.

Autosport.com reports today that the blown diffuser issue: "will go away in 2012 with new technical regulations set to be imposed that will force teams to run with periscope-type exhausts that exit on top of the sidepods -- so will not be able to have any major effect on the diffuser area of the car".

An FIA statement said: "The teams have already agreed to strict constraints on exhaust tailpipe position which will result in them exiting the bodywork much higher up and no longer in the vicinity of the diffuser… Therefore, any aerodynamic benefit from exhaust gas flow over bodywork will be kept to an absolute minimum.

"Engine mapping will remain free [within the existing constraints] as, with the exhaust tailpipes in this new position, it is felt that any aerodynamic benefit will now be incidental to their primary purpose."

"In 2007 Jamie would have won the title it if we hadn't screwed up as a team… Last year the same thing applied … he was a heartbeat away from winning it and if he'd claimed those two he'd have already won four championships," Dane told BigPond Sport in an article today on V8Supercars.com.au.

"It's a lot more difficult to win multiple titles in the modern era, but if anyone can do it Jamie's the one," Dane stated.

Sunday's victory in Townsville was Whincup's 48th – equal with the late Peter Brock and just one behind Saturday's winner, Garth Tander.  This season Whincup has been on the podium 11 times in 15 races, including six wins.

"Jamie is the most complete driver in the championship," Dane said.

"He delivers every time he rolls out on to the track. If we give him the equipment he's always going to be there or thereabouts. There are several other guys very close to him, such as Craig (Lowndes) and Garth (Tander), but anyone up and down pit lane can see that Jamie is the class of the field."

Unless he decides to venture overseas to race, it's quite conceivable that Whincup might even more titles than Skaife, Johnson and Geoghegan.

Jaguar's owner, Indian conglomerate Tata, are said to be "evaluating a return with an all-new LMP1 car" although the timeframe is unclear.

Jaguar has won Le Mans seven times, most recently in 1990 with the XJR-12.

The crash ripped the left-front wheel off the MINI and, while it was hastily fixed and Spanish driver Dani Sordi later drove it, Meeke's entry in this weekend's national Rally Estonia was cancelled. The car was returned to Britain for a full evaluation and bodyshell repair.

"Kris found what appears to be Ayers Rock and the impact took the wheels off and damaged the sill on the left side of the car," Lapworth said.

"While we were perfectly happy to get the car running again for the test, we wouldn't want to send it on an event like Estonia. We're a small team. The same guys who are out on the test in Finland have to come back and prepare the [Rally] Finland event cars and build more, plus we've got to get the test car ready for more testing next week.

"We had to draw a line somewhere and say, 'Enough's enough'," Lapworth stated.

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