Nigeria Content Online

Mark
Webber, Sebastian Vettel and their Red Bull team have no fear of the
unknown as they lead Formula One into unfamiliar territory after a
dominant one-two win in Japan.

South Korea, with a
new and barely-completed circuit being inspected by the governing body
on Monday and Tuesday, poses a fresh challenge next week but Red Bull
expect some things to stay the same.

“We think that we
can be competitive at all remaining tracks,” team principal Christian
Horner told reporters after Vettel led championship pacesetter Webber
to the chequered flag at Suzuka on Sunday.

“There’s nothing
that we fear in the remaining three races.” Australian Webber increased
his outright lead to 14 points, with Vettel and Ferrari’s Spaniard
Fernando Alonso tied behind him, but it will be his young German team
mate he will be most worried about.

Vettel, dubbed ‘crash happy’ by some of his rivals not so long ago, has revived his challenge and roared back into contention.

Webber has continued to bank the big points with admirable consistency.

Two more similar
one-two finishes would see Vettel and Webber equal on points going into
the season-ending Abu Dhabi race with the constructors’ title in the
bag and a winner-takes-all battle for the drivers’ crown.

“The dream scenario
would be to be able to pull out a big enough gap to all those behind
that it was just down to them on track,” said Horner, whose team are 45
points clear of McLaren. “Whether that is possible or not, who knows?

“There are three other drivers in contention and it’s wrong to write off any of those three.”

Mclaren gloom

McLaren’s champions
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button would agree with that, even if their
post-race defiance and determination to fight on sounded more like rage
against the dying of the light than true belief.

Hamilton is 28
points off the pace while Button, the reigning champion, is 31 points
behind Webber with the Australian seemingly playing down his rival’s
chances.

“As we’ve seen this year, five of us are capable of winning races,” the Australian said on Sunday.

“Well, four in the
dry. Jenson’s had a few races in the wet conditions but in the dry
conditions it’s been four of us who can win.”

Even if the
Australian drops points, the chances are that Vettel or Alonso will be
poised to cash in just as much as the two Britons.

The British media certainly left Suzuka wondering whether it was all over.

“We go away from
here 28 points behind, 75 points in play and three races to go,” said
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, putting on a brave face.

“At least, we hope
it is three races. We are assuming Korea is there and we will do our
best. We’ve got to make sure we are reliable and make sure we get our
new rear wing, new front wing and other bits and pieces and we keep
pushing.” After increasing fears of cancellation, with the final layer
of asphalt laid only last week, the teams and powers-that-be are now
convinced that FIA race director Charlie Whiting will give the Yeongam
circuit the go-ahead.

No teams are
expecting perfect conditions but they will be hoping the track does not
throw up too many problems at a time when consistency is crucial.

Alonso said on
Sunday that he still felt a podium finish in all remaining rounds would
be enough to win him the title but Webber wanted more than that.

“I need to win again in the future,” said the Australian, who left
the circuit in such a hurry that Red Bull replaced him with a cardboard
cut out for their team photograph and victory celebrations. “I’m very
confident I can do that.”