1980 world champion Alan Jones has backed his fellow Australian Mark Webber to take the world title – but in 2010.
The ex-Williams man says Webber has now learned how to win, but that Jenson Button will probably still take the title by virtue of the Englishman’s still-comfy points advantage.
“While a championship this year isn’t probable, as Jenson Button would have to make some pretty big mistakes and Webber string together quite a few wins for it to happen at this point, it will certainly set him up well for next year,” Jones told The Age newspaper.
“Brawn came out of the gates flying and because of that Button has a comfortable buffer but I can’t see why Webber can’t win a few more because the car is going really well at the moment,” added Jones.
Mark Webber woke this morning to a flurry of newspaper adulation, which is thoroughly deserved given his performance yesterday. Some newspapers compared him to Nigel Mansell, who also took a long time to win his first race, but went on to become one of the sport’s greats at a relatively advanced age.
Webber will have to keep his feet on the ground, remembering that he has a sizeable points discrepancy to Button to tackle, and another problem in the form of Sebastian Vettel. Nevertheless the Red Bull appears to be so dominant at this stage of the season that anything is possible, with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari also moving towards the front, potentially to take points from Brawn.
