Can Webber win the championship?

[raymondu999]

By "under-pressure" I think it's more aptly put as "in the midfield" or "middle of the pack" as opposed to leading or in 2nd behind Vettel

[ESPImperium]

Too early, but from what i can see, the winner of Spain and Monaco generally does go on to win the WDC at the end of the year.

Personally i think, like David Coulthard, Mark Webber is going thru a modren day Nigel Mansell experience. He won last year for the first time, altho overshadowed by a drive thru penalty and his second time win was stolen by jenson winning the WDC that day. He won for the first time cleanly and without the spotlight being stolen from him at Barcelona, now a win at Monaco. I think the guy can win more and more this year. He could be the guy to stop as he is a confedence driver, once in a groove he cant be beaten.

Personally i cannot rule him out, i think he is in with a bloody good chance.

The question id like to ask is, can Sebastian keep up with Mark this year as Webber has adapted to the rules better than Vettel i think. And i put that down to experience and that alone, as you can be a quick driver in a quick car but not be able to score a win in the way you treat your car or your race craft. I think Webber has better car control and better racecraft that Vettel at current as Webber has still to fail to finish. Vettel has had two simmilar failures, one he managed for the last stage of the race.

Im gonna see how Turkey thru to arround Germany goes, as thats where the champions elect will emerge.

[dren]

Webber is hit or miss. He was the same last year. I agree with the bookies, I'd put my money on Alonso.

[Sean H]

He can, but I will say he won't. Either his car will let him down at some point or Vettel will begin to get impatient and we may see some first corner incidents between teammates.

I would still put my money on Alonso hangin out in 3rd just waiting.

[internetf1fan]

I don't like Vettel so Webber all the way to the championship!

[lebesset]

webber appears to be a little easier on his car than vettel which shades it for me between them ; but ferrari have a huge budget and must surely improve , giving alonso a chance in what is clearly only the second best car

McLaren are too far behind , so that although hamilton is clearly the best driver he is a long shot , although button could have a chance if the weather is adverse

[spinmastermic]

Hell yeah he can. Button did. Now there's hope for everybody

[Giblet]

Yes. What a silly question.

[PlatinumZealot]

I didn't really rate Webber before, but I would rather him win it than Vettel.

[SoliRossi]

ITs very interesting to hear varying comments, especially the claims that Webber cracks under pressure, that a leopard does not change his spots etc... I find it interesting that whilst people claim to have watched webber over his career they have such ill informed opinions towards his performance.

Webbers whole career has been in midfield cars, he has only had a race winning car for just over 12 months and look at what he is doing with it. There is no point in explaining the ins and outs of why Webber has had his results to date as an educated observer can see the reasons. Its much the same as the Attitude towards Lewis this season and Jens. A lot of people claim Lewis is driving better even though he is getting beaten by Button in the WDC. And he probably is, but Jens has made some more beneficial calls as well as had better luck (bar Monaco) so there is a element of subjectivity needed to be taken.

Iv got no doubt Mark can do it this season, he has the tools at his disposal so it will be a matter of seing if he gets the job done. The season should ebb and flow between Webber and Seb. Im positive Seb will have his weekends where he dominates, he is too good not too, but for his sake it probably needs to be soonish as Marks in a pretty rich vein of form at the moment.

The other 2 main contenders have to be Alonso & Lewis, I still cant work out weather the Macca or Ferrari is a better car. They both seem to have their days, perhaps the Macca is a bit more of a complete package.

[andartop]

Since he has been exorcised and his bad luck changed, I think he can. The universe owes him. What I'd really love to see though is either Red Bull driver winning a race from further back on the grid and after having actually overtaken someone in their way to the finish.

[tinhouse]

Personally I think this is all about regression towards the mean. There are many better statisticians on this board than me so someone can probably analyse this better, but it's a pretty well known phenomenon that sportsmen and women have their statistical good seasons and bad ones, and that judging results by one or two races rarely provides a good picture. So Button last year had a period where everything came together for him and it was enough to win him the championship. That's not to say he didn't deserve it but he's generally a top 3-5 driver and will probably settle back into that, barring the odd race where things go his way again, as we saw at the end of last season and the start of this one.

Personally I think that Webber probably has a much higher amount of talent than his stats might reflect. It's not unkown for sportspeople (or city traders or even movie producers) to have very long runs of good or bad luck and Webber seems to have had far more than his fair share over his career. If that run is over and it really has been masking his true talent then absolutely he can, and probably will, do it. On the other hand the four wins could be the statistical blip and he'll slide back down the standings over the next few races.

So can he? Yes. Wil he? Who knows but I'd be very happy to see him take the WDC and it seems to be looking good so far.

Matt.

[Chaparral]

To be honest as an Aussie yes I hope the barometer is going up re a WDC - but its way too early in the season to even be thinking that way - the only thing I will say is that his wins to date have been very dominant and I dont believe anyone will dispute that. Mark certainly has had his share of 'bad luck' in fact I think mid 2007 stats said his DNF's were 55% mechanical and the guy often qualified a car well above its fighting weight but that first win in Germany last year got the monkey off his back and his confidence grows from race to race and he has a decent car under him this year - so good luck to him.

[Sean H]

Bahrain Grid 6 Finished 8
Australia Grid 2 Finished 9
Malaysia Grid 1 Finished 2
China Grid 2 Finished 8
Spain Grid 1 Finished 1
Monaco Grid 1 Finished 1

He obviously has run well the last two weeks, but before that he had failed to hold his grid position much less improve it. It all depends on which Webber shows up the rest of the year.

[raymondu999]

Red Bull just said that Vettel had a defect on his chassis and that caused him to not be able to find any balance at all... http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83744