Mark Webber suggested on Thursday that he will likely see out his Formula One career at Red Bull.
Australian indicates he wants to see out his F1 career at Red Bull
Mark Webber hinted on Thursday that he will likely see out his Formula One career at Red Bull.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix, the 34-year-old Australian also revealed that he came close to quitting the sport a few years ago.
Webber told reporters in Istanbul that he had three options for 2012 and that the choice of which of them to pursue would be his.
"Stay here, stop or drive somewhere else - which is probably unlikely," he said.
"It's obviously down a lot to how I feel about things and we'll see how we feel later in the year.
"I could have stopped two, three years ago but I didn't, I kept going. The results have been good in the last few years and are still being good now."
Webber said he felt disillusioned with his career towards the end of an ill-starred two-year spell at Williams, who he left for Red Bull at the end of 2006.
"It's old ground isn't it?," he said when pressed on the subject. "We know the window in my career where I was thinking about it (stopping). It didn't happen, I came to Red Bull and (we've) done some great things together.
"There's still a lot of big boxes to tick hopefully and do some great things."
Webber had to wait until 2009 to win his first grand prix before becoming a title contender last season.
He won four races during the 2010 season but was eventually eclipsed by team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who went on to become F1's youngest ever world champion.
The German has gone from strength to strength so far this year, winning two out of three races and also claiming a clean sweep of pole positions.
Struggled
Webber has struggled in comparison, with his third place in China three weeks ago his first podium finish since Brazil last November.
Vettel's rise to prominence, not to mention the almost 11-year age difference between the drivers, has led to speculation that his team-mate could look elsewhere or retire.
However, Webber, who collided with Vettel while the pair disputed the lead of last year's Turkish Grand Prix, said he was keeping his options open.
"We haven't had too many discussions yet but obviously in the next few months things will start... it's not really a big subject," he said.
"We realise how many good things we've done together and there's a good chance of doing some very good things again together in future. Whether it ends this year or I go again next year, it doesn't depend on results.
"(The) results will be fine. It depends on how I feel.
"There's a lot of things that have happened in the last few years that have been big highlights for me and sensational moments so I hope I can add to those in the next few years and go from there."
Webber made his F1 debut for Minardi in 2002 and raced for Jaguar before joining the Williams team ahead of the 2005 season.
The expectations had been for a successful partnership but in the event Webber could only finish 10th and 14th overall, earning a best finish of third at Monaco in 2005.
Tough fight
"I just didn't enjoy my time before I came here," he recalled.
"At Williams it was a tough fight for me. At that point I had to restart my career in a way and it worked out very well.
"So obviously I made the right decision there and since then I've taken it step by step which has been the right way for my mentality towards the job and probably also suits Red Bull quite well."
