Webber: No reason I can't compete for title in 2010

I’m extremely relieved.

I’ve been away from the computer all day, and I was certain — just certain — that Grace would be able to get away from one of her high-level government-type meetings and post this story, and never give poor Mark Webber his due.

The BBC is running Webber’s latest column pretty big (at least right now), and for good reason. The guy’s got about the best perspective on the Jenson Button and Brawn GP championships there is, and he’s already itching for next season.

No mention of whether he’ll be in a Red Bull or Toro Rosso, though.

Like many of us, Mark also though the Brazil GP was the best race of the season.

I’m also pleased to see his admitting to mistakes this season that cost him any chance of winning the drivers title.

Here are a few choice bits. As always, your thoughts? [Better get them in here before Grace shows up and tears poor Mark to pieces.]

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The scoreboard never lies. He has got the most points and he is the champion. He is a deserving champion too – if he doesn’t deserve it then I don’t know who else does.

The big difference between Jenson and some of the other drivers is his smoothness. He is probably one of the smoothest drivers on the grid. It is very rare to see him sawing away at the wheel.

To be honest Jenson has done it pretty comfortably in the end, and so has the Brawn team

Mark Webber

I am not saying that is what won him the championship, but that smoothness behind the wheel is certainly the thing that is synonymous with Jenson.

I am also pleased for Ross Brawn. I know Ross reasonably well and he is clearly a benchmark for a lot of people in Formula 1.

He is a great competitor and has been involved in a lot of successful operations. He knows the industry well and knows what he needs to do to get results.

All credit to him and what he has done – he is a special guy for motorsport.

[snip]

I am disappointed that my championship bid faded, but as always you need to put a whole season together.

There is absolutely no reason at all why I can’t fight for the championship next season

We had a non-points scoring finish in Melbourne and a couple of ninth-place finishes in Valencia and Spa, where we got a drive-through penalty.

Lots of little things turn into big things and that is how you lose a championship.

It was the same for my team-mate Sebastian Vettel. He had a few crashes here and there and the odd failure. That is enough for us not to be in the hunt.

[snip]

The biggest lesson I have learnt from this season is you need to cut out the little things. You need to make each session count and really put it together across the season.

OK I am not 21, but I am not 40 either, so all of this will help me going forward into next year.

Our hope for 2010 has to be to go for the championships. There is only one more position that this team can get, so that is what we have to aim for. We need to keep improving.

Up until Singapore there were only a couple of points between Sebastian and I so there is absolutely no reason at all why I can’t fight for the championship next season.

[snip]

Incidents like the one with Jarno and Adrian can happen in F1, it is in the heat of the situation.

It wasn’t too serious, people can do that, just have a little discussion about things, it is fine.

They probably could have spoken about it behind the barrier, but they were still standing out there on the track.

A lot of the human side has been taken out of F1, but every now and again it comes back in, and that is good to see.

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