World championship leader Mark Webber said on Thursday that adopting an overly cautious approach during the final races of the Formula One season would be “suicidal”.
The Red Bull driver reclaimed top spot in the title chase in the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago from Lewis Hamilton after the McLaren star crashed out on the opening lap at Monza trying to pass Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
If Hamilton’s aggressive approach represents one side of the coin, the title run-in experienced 12 months ago by his team-mate and defending champion Jenson Button almost became the other.
Although his Brawn GP car was no longer the class of the field, Button was still criticised for being too conservative as the season reached its climax.
Webber, Hamilton and Button, together with Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, are all in contention this year, with the Australian acknowledging the fine line he must tread during the final five races.
“I’m not treating this like a normal race, but I’m not far off it,” Webber said ahead of Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.
“We know non-finishes are not part of the menu, so we need to make sure we don’t do that and I need to keep scoring.
“It’s absolutely as boring as anything but that’s what it is about, getting as many points as I can, to keep chipping away.
“Winning makes a difference and that’s what our goal is, to try and do that here.
“It’s completely suicidal to sit back and say ‘okay, I can pick up fifth and sixth.’ That’s not good enough.
“We know in Monza, those kind of races, well particularly the race I had (finishing sixth) wasn’t what we want to do for the rest of the year.
“We’re looking forward to some podiums in the future, and that’s what we need to do at this stage to stay massively in the hunt.
“Right now I’m in a nice position, and I’d certainly rather have the points I’ve got than not.
“But whether there are two, five or eight guys in the hunt, it does not really change your role or how you go about your job.
“I am coming here to try and win the race, and that’s what we are going to try and do.”
Advantage
Webber heads into the night race buoyed by his points haul in both Italy and the previous race in Belgium – tracks he and Red Bull had expected to struggle on relative to principal rivals McLaren.
In contrast, Red Bull hope their Renault-powered RB6 car will hold the advantage around the Marina Bay street circuit this weekend.
“I would say this is a better circuit for us than the last two,” Webber said.
“Without doubt we knew Spa and Monza were going to be a little more challenging for us.
“We know we have a fantastic car wherever we go in the world, but we probably wouldn’t go to Spa and Monza every day of the week to take on our opposition because there are not many tracks like that on the calendar.
“The circuit is similar in characteristics to how most of them are, so we expect to be a bit more competitive here.”
Even so Webber has yet to record a finish in Singapore, having respectively suffered a transmission issue and brake failure in the previous two races held there.
But with a positive attitude, Webber said: “Brazil was a rubbish track for me in the past and I won there last year.
“I am ticking a few boxes off, so I hope to do well this weekend.”
