Formula One championship leader Mark Webber will enter this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix keen to make amends for a wasted opportunity at the famed Suzuka circuit 12 months ago.
Webber, 34, squandered a golden chance for at least a podium finish at Suzuka in 2009 when he crashed his Red Bull so heavily in practice that he couldn’t take part in qualifying for the race.
He started the Grand Prix from the pit lane in a hastily rebuilt chassis only to pit three times in the first five laps to repair a loose-fitting headrest and fix a puncture, and finished in a lowly 17th place.
Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel recorded a dominant win from pole position in the sister Red Bull Racing entry 12 months ago.
And after the German came second with a composed display on the streets of Singapore two weeks ago, the Australian will be as keen to halt Vettel’s push for the championship as he will to right the wrongs of 2009 in Japan.
“I’m very optimistic we can do well,” said Webber ahead of Sunday’s race at Suzuka, vowing not “to make a habit” of his crash last year.
Webber said the 5.81-kilometre layout, which was built in 1962, features “some corners that always get the drivers’ attention”.
“It’s not often these days that you can take a Formula One car to a circuit and feel the track is in charge of the car – it’s usually the other way around,” he said.
“That’s how Suzuka feels when you’re in the cockpit. It’s a real top-drawer circuit for us drivers, and our car should be pretty quick there.”
After surviving a wheel-banging battle with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to finish third in Singapore, Webber leads the championship by 11 points with four races remaining from a fast-closing Fernando Alonso, who has won the last two races for Ferrari in a late-season charge for the title.
Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 world champion, looked to be out of contention when he was 47 points off the championship lead after the British Grand Prix in July. But the 29-year-old Spaniard has struck a purple patch of form, winning three of the past five races and taking a lights-to-flag victory in Singapore.
Alonso, in his first year with the famed Italian team, told the official Ferrari website this week that the championship battle was “getting serious”.
“The hard part is still ahead of us,” said Alonso, the winner of the Japanese Grand Prix for Renault in 2006 and 2008.
“It is time for everyone to give their all without taking a single backward step.”
Just 25 points – the equivalent of a single race win – separate the top five at the head of the championship standings, with Webber leading Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and reigning world champion Jenson Button.