Will he or won't he?

The 'he' in question being Mark Webber with the discussion being about, not the Championship funnily enough, what he will be doing in 2011.

Having stated the other day what everyone already knew (that being that the big wigs at Red Bull would prefer to see Vettel win the title if given the choice), he's now opened the way for further whispers about whether he will see out his contract with Red Bull next year in an interview with the BBC if you take the article title at face value.

Reading between the lines though, I'm not sure he's said anything out of the ordinary.

He's 34, coming towards the end of the shelf life for an F1 driver, has been having easily the best season of his career and, if he does what he did in May by taking two wins in the space of a week (Spain and Monaco), will be crowned World Champion in Abu Dhabi on November 14.

"Pressure? What pressure, mate? Oh, that..."

I mean, there is a substantial difference between being asked "why did you retire?" over "why didn't you retire?" and I'm not just talking about two letters and the apostrophe.

Rumours have been tossed around the Australian, despite signing a one year extension a few months ago; he's going to retire, he's replacing Felipe at Ferrari being the main two...but I don't believe he will do anything other than be plonking his butt behind the wheel of a Red Bull when the 2011 season starts in Bahrain next March.

This Aussie hopes it's with a '1' on the nosecone.

Red Bull Gives You Wings...Mark Webber's Actually

We've seen it happen before; Driver 'X' knows their contract is up at the end of the season so they'll put in a couple dazzling displays to showcase their talent so teams will want to snap them up before someone else does. Well, Mark Webber already did that...a couple months ago in fact when he blitzed the field in Spain and Monaco. He and Red Bull did the easy thing and inked an extension that will see the Aussie drive for them until the end of 2011.

Probably not beyond it though, not with the current dynamics in the team anyway.

Sebastian Vettel is a superstar already, he proved that with his surprise victory at Monza in 2008. He consolidated that by finishing runner-up is the 2009 Championship. And he landed a dent in Mark Webber's title chase a couple weeks ago at Valencia as he thumped the opposition, leaving Webber flying over a Lotus in his wake, leapfrogging his teammate in the points. Meanwhile, Mark Webber seems to be more of a journeyman, a driver who can produce the odd great result, but not able to maintain a season long challenge for the title (after Hungary last year, he was ahead of Vettel but then had four straight races where he didn't score a point).

And so, when Vettel had a front wing failure in Saturday practice at Silverstone, the team decided to give him the one Webber was using. Mark's response to this was a storming start on Sunday from second on the grid, leaving Seb no choice but to yield going into turn one lest he run wide and risk getting a puncture (which he duly did...dang near ruined my trifecta too!), leading every lap (like he did in Spain, like he did in Monaco) to become the only driver this season to rack up three wins. In the process, he now sits third in the standings behind the McLaren duo...so back in front of Vettel in other words.

Was this the turning point for Webber's season; sculpting the anger from Saturday into a win on Sunday?

However, it was a unique situation Saturday. Red Bull brought a new front wing and only had two of them. So, when the one on Vettel's went snap, they figured that, as he was ahead in the points, they'd take the one from Mark...it's nothing personal, just business. Webber acknowledged that in the post race interview, not that it stopped him from saying a classic "not bad for a number two driver," over the radio as he took the chequer, but he does want to sit down with the team to discuss what happened this week.

He has a point I reckon. The easiest way to have resolved the front wing deal would have been to do the old coin toss, rock-paper-scissors or some other option where both sides of the garage had a chance to put their case to why they should have the upgraded part, not just nick it from one to give it to the other...ahh well, hindsight and all that.

Webber and Vettel have already clashed this season with their infamous coming together at Turkey while running 1-2. Is it time for team orders or do you want your drivers to be pushing each other? McLaren don't seem to be having any issues with Jenson and Lewis, but then again, it's a slightly different situation there given that both guys have won the title before while the 'Bulls' want to both be the first to land the big prize.

So the question is this; will Mark Webber channel the anger he felt into a year long charge for the title, or was it just used up at Silverstone?

I think the scariest thing we learnt from Silverstone was that the Red Bull is still the class of the field...even without the trick new front wing.

'The greatest day of my life'

I think he summed it up wonderfully in the post-race interview; it was the best day of his life thus far.

It took 51 years, but an Australian driver finally reigned supreme around the hallowed streets of Monte Carlo. For the first time in his career, Mark Webber managed to snag two consecutive pole positions and translated it into two consecutive wins.

Things didn't look quite like that, however, as while the Red Bull chassis was the one to beat through all of practice, qualifying and the race at Spain, it wasn't until the final moments of qualifying in Monaco did they put their stamp on this, the most prestigious race on the F1 calender.

Robert Kubica in the Renault was the man to beat, setting a blistering lap to be sitting some four tenths clear of, then second place man, Lewis Hamilton (and over a second ahead of Schumacher who was third!) until Webber produced the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. He then did it again, slicing even more time off his lap to wind up on the pole by about 0.3 seconds, with his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, settling for third a further tenth back.

Webber is closing in on Raikkonen's record of most consecutive laps lead having gone flag-to-flag in the last two races.

Mark got away well enough on Sunday, leaving Kubica to battle into the first corner with Vettel, Felipe Massa and Hamilton and that was pretty much the story of the race really. Yes there were four safety cars over the course of the day but all those did were cut Webber's lead over Vettel and allow for Fernando Alonso to close up after starting 24th and last from the pitlane after a crash in Saturday practice (he managed to finish sixth).

It was Red Bull's second 1-2 finish for 2010 and with the way things panned out for the others, they now lead the Constructors' and Drivers' standings for the first time in their history. Maybe now all the pundits whispering about Mark being over the hill and being replaced with Kimi Raikkonen next year will stop for a while to wipe the egg off their faces since Webber doesn't look ready to quit right now.

If at first you don't succeed...

Mark Webber entered F1 in 2002 with a bang, netting fifth place (worth two points back then) in his first race driving a Minardi. Yes he was helped by a first corner accident which, basically, took out 8 of the 22 cars but he still had to fend off a hard charging Mika Salo for the final ten laps. The rest of the year didn't quite continue that incredible result (that was Minardi's first points since Marc Gene's sixth place effort at the Nurburgring in 1999) but the platform was set and Jaguar snapped him up for the next season.

Mark produced one of his finest drives in his debut race; 5th at the Aussie GP in '02.

After producing the qualifying lap of his, then short, F1 career in Brazil (third), he then equalled it at Hungary later in the season, causing most people to believe he was just a 'one lap specialist'. That form continued on in 2004, where he hauled the underperforming 'big cat' onto the front row for the first time. Such was his ability to get more out of the car than was thought, Williams wasted no time in signing him to fill the shoes of McLaren bound, Juan Montoya.

At Jaguar, Mark proved that given the right car, he could match it at the front.

2005 also saw the first year Mark was up against some seriously good opposition in the other team car; namely Nick Heidfeld...who, as most of you already know, I say is the most underrated driver on the grid. It was a frustrating year all in all, given how well Williams finished 2004. Monaco was the highlight when he outmuscled the Champion elect, Fernando Alonso, a few laps after watching his teammate do the same, to score his first podium, following Nick home in third. The lowlight came, ironically, the next race where, having started on the second row, he collided with Montoya at turn one, and then watched as Heidfeld finished second.

Mark finished that year with his "must beat your teammate" record still intact, scoring 36 points to Nick's 28 but 2006 saw the BMW powerplant leave Williams and follow Heidfeld to Sauber, meaning yet another new teammate for Webber. Nico Rosberg was the man and, with Cosworth power, both drivers started the year with a hiss and a roar. They were helped that Williams were the next best Bridgestone shod team, behind Ferrari, so any weekend when the Bridgies were the tyre to have, the Williams' were able to hang near the front. A point proved at Monaco where Mark was in a position to win the race, being as close as he was to both Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen...but it wasn't to be as, not for the first time that year, mechanical issues sidelined the Australian.

Sadly a common sight during his time at Williams; another breakdown.

He was touted as the driver to replace Alonso (who had signed for McLaren) at the all-conquering Renault team, but instead chose to join Red Bull as teammate to David Coulthard...a move that, until this year, one couldn't really figure out why he went as he passed up the same seat in favour of the Williams in 2005. Mark said he was a little awed at going to "Fernando's team" and possibly felt he wouldn't be able to produce his best. 2007 saw him get his second podium finish, again a third, and his second chance of a potential win. This time, it was the youthful exuberance of Sebastian Vettel who ruined that opportunity as he clouted Mark while under safety car conditions. It wouldn't be the the last he heard the name 'Vettel' either.

The Red Bull 'B' team, Toro Rosso, had Ferrari power for 2008 while Red Bull had Renault. While Vettel flourished in the second half of the year, Webber began to struggle as the Renault's lack of horsepower started to make things difficult to make progress with the car. Indeed, some pundits were curious as to why Vettel was picked as Coulthard's replacement at Red Bull when his current car was faster.

Enter Adrian Newey; design genius.

The man behind the Williams' of the early 1990's and the McLaren's of the late 1990's...in other words, whenever tricky rules were put in place, Newey tended to find the best design...2009 saw a lot of rule changes.

Finally, Mark gets his paws on a competitive car.

It also saw what most people expected to be Webber's downfall, a catch 22 situation as, for the first time, he had a fast car capable of producing the results but the guy he had to beat was being hailed as the next big thing in racing. And oh yeah, he suffered a broken leg and shoulder from a bike crash during the offseason so the first half of 2009 he's driven with a metal rod in his leg.

He watched as Sebastian scored Red Bull's first win in China, with Mark coming home second. But he wasn't about to go quietly into the night and, while Vettel had the upper hand in qualfying, Webber started to turn the tide during the races. Going into last weekends' race at the Nurburgring, Vettel had just 3.5 points on Webber...not bad for a bloke who no one gave much of a chance to match the young German.

It was Mark who got the pole on Vettel's home turf, and it was Mark who drove away from everyone during the race. Such was his performance, that had he not backed off at the end or been hit with a drivethrough penalty for 'rough driving' at the start, Webber would have gone close to beating Vettel by 30 seconds...or half a second a lap. Either way you want to put it, Mark thumped everyone at Germany and it was a very popular win for a guy who is pretty well liked. Webber has a knack for getting the most, sometimes more, out of the car and that kind of driver usually doesn't have to wait seven years to be given the equipment his talent deserves...but that just made it all the more special.

It took 8 years for Mark and 28 years for Australia, but the Aussie anthem got dusted off at last!

Hearing his emotion over the radio on the cool down lap, hearing that Australian anthem being played on the podium and the flag hoisted high above for the first time since 1981 made this Aussie very, very proud.

I think BBC commentator and ex-F1 driver, Martin Brundle, summed it up best; he's been a nearly-man, and now he's turned it into a really-man. And here's an interesting stat to finish off with - until last weekend, there had been only two Aussies to have won a Grand Prix; Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones...and both of them went on to win F1 championships.