Mark Webber, a number 2 who is not thinking about retirement

Following Michael Schumacher’s retirement and Pedro de la Rosa’s pessimism about his chances of being back on the grids in /f1/actualite/14828-hulkenberg-pour-remplacer-webber-chez-red-bull-en-2014-.html, Mark Webber is likely to be the oldest driver in the lineup next season.

At 36 and about to start his seventh season with Red Bull, the Australian is not yet considering retirement: “I haven’t thought about it yet, but it will be a very difficult moment, no doubt,” he says in the magazine *GP International*. “I guess it’s just about finding the right moment: not quitting too early knowing you still have more to give, or staying too long and not being fast enough or struggling to do what you were capable of before. That can become a problem.”

Author in 2012 of two pole positions and two Grand Prix victories, in Monaco and Silverstone, the native of Queanbeyan experienced a more challenging end of the year after giving Sebastian Vettel a run for his money at the beginning of the season. Christian Horner, in defense of his driver, indicates that Mark Webber never seemed very comfortable with the new specifications, while Helmut Marko believes that the Australian did not cooperate optimally in Brazil and is exploring the possibility of hiring Nico Hülkenberg to replace him in 2014.

If, up until now, Mark Webber has not underperformed compared to Sebastian Vettel, it remains that in Helmut Marko’s eyes, the Australian has, by force of circumstances, become the number 2 at the Red Bull team: “Mark knows what we expect from him,” the Austrian confides to *Sport Bild*. “For four years, Vettel and Webber have been racing for us. Sebastian has been in the title race once and champion three times. The statistics speak for themselves. There is no reason to think that the balance of power will change.”