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Mark Webber
indicated on Thursday that he would see out his Formula One career at
Red Bull and revealed how close he came to quitting the sport a few
years ago.

The 34-year-old
Australian, whose contract with the world champions expires at the end
of the year, told reporters at the Turkish Grand Prix that he had three
options for 2012 and the choice 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,” he added.

“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.”
While Webber joined Red Bull in 2007, finishing 12th and 11th overall
in his first two years with the team, the Australian was clearly
referring to his difficult years at Williams before then in 2005 and
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.” Title contender

Webber won four
races last season and was a title contender, if not favourite, going
into the final race in Abu Dhabi won by German team mate Sebastian
Vettel.

Vettel won the race and the title, becoming the youngest ever champion at 23 years old, and has gone from strength to strength.

The youngster has
been on pole position for all three races this season and won two of
them, finishing second in the other in China.

Webber’s third
place in China was his first podium finish since Brazil last November
and the rise of Vettel has led to speculation that the Australian could
look elsewhere next year or retire.

He said he was keeping things open, and the team were happy with that.

“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,” said Webber.

“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,” said the man who won in Monaco and at Silverstone last year.

“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 had not won
a race before he joined Red Bull, a third place in Monaco in 2005 being
his best previous result, and he was 10th and 14th overall in an
uncompetitive car with former champions Williams.

“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.”

REUTERS