F1: Will this be Webber's breakthrough season?

This year’s formula one championship is turning out to be a big lottery. Seven winners in nine races and with no definite pattern of winning drivers or teams emerging, this year could very well spring a surprise in the drivers’ title race. 2012 was supposed to have been a battle royale between the six world champions in the fray - Schumacher, Alonso, Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton and Button. Out of the six, two have faded away while Vettel, Hamilton and Raikkonen have been left chasing the brilliant Alonso, who is the championship leader. However, mid-way in the season, the biggest threat to Alonso is not from these former and defending champions but from a driver who has been confined to play a supporting role (no 2 driver) at Red Bull Racing for the past couple of seasons. This could very well be the breakthrough season for Mark Webber, the only driver, other than Alonso, to have won two races this season. Of course, Webber hasn’t done anything particularly spectacular that stands him out as a championship contender. In fact, his points tally after the end of British GP is almost similar to those of his previous two years at the same stage. [caption id=“attachment_375794” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Mark Webber is having one of his best F1 seasons. AP[/caption] In 2010 and 2011, Webber finished third in the championship, and was clearly overshadowed by the dominant, and in some instances preferred, teammate Sebastian Vettel. What has changed this season is the performance of other drivers due to the change in tyre characteristics. Those drivers who took a risk or two with pitstop strategies have got punished. The unforgiving nature of tyres has made even exceptional drivers look ordinary at times. A relentless push for a win (in qualifying and race) at the cost of higher tyre wear has not yielded best results. Consistency, more than wins or podium finishes, has emerged as the best approach to this year’s championship. One need not look further beyond Webber’s accumulation of points. He finished fourth in each of the first four raves of the season. Button, Alonso, Rosberg and Vettel, winners of these races, were hot favourites for the championship. In the fifth race, Webber finished eleventh before winning his first race of the season at Monaco. Between Monaco and his race winning effort at Silverstone last Sunday, he finished 7th and 4th at Canada and Valencia. The nature of this year’s races has been such that with approximately the same points that he had last year, he is just 16 points stay from the leader. Its a remarkable situation considering what happened in 2011. Last year, he was already out of title reckoning at this stage due to Vettel’s blistering performance right from the beginning. Webber has had to wait a while to reach important landmarks. Webber win his first race in 2009, his eighth year in Formula One. Needless to say, he is yet to win a championship, though he came quote closer to doing so in 2010. Though he may not have set record books on fire as far as race wins are concerned, when it comes to points finishes, he had always been Mr Dependable. His performances of the past (scoring Minardi’s first points in three years in his debut season) and present bear testimony to the fact. His stripey could be somewhat similar to Button’s who won the championship in 2009 after a long struggle. Not many people had picked Button as a champion contender then. This could very well be Webber’s year. At least, at this stage in the championship, everything seems to be tailor made for him. He is with the right team occupying the right place in drivers standings.