Abu Dhabi GP: Mark Webber determined to push for victory
Mark Webber has declared that he will push to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for himself and is not thinking about stepping aside for title-chasing Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel
Webber outqualified Vettel to take third on the Yas Marina grid.
The Australian's title hopes are extremely remote now that he trails leader Vettel by 73 points with only 75 still available, whereas Vettel is 13 points ahead of rival Fernando Alonso at the head of the standings.
But asked if he expected team orders in Sunday's race with Vettel starting one place behind, Webber replied: "I will drive flat out."
Webber qualified on the front row despite losing a lot of track time to KERS issues on Friday - having also been held back by glitches with the energy-recovery device in last weekend's Indian GP.
Vettel was in the wars on Saturday, suffering brake problems in final practice then having to park at the end of qualifying due to a currently unspecified technical issue.
"We realise we have to work on our reliability," Webber acknowledged. "We have had a few issues of late. It is something the group is on and there is nothing Seb and I can do about it.
"It is not our job, it is their job."
Lewis Hamilton's McLaren beat the Red Bulls to pole at Yas Marina by a comfortable 0.348-second margin, but Webber believes the McLaren is still beatable.
"Lewis's starts lately haven't been phenomenal so let's see if he has a good one tomorrow," he said. "We will see how they get off the line but I am looking to go forward for sure.
"Credit to Lewis and McLaren, they have a quick car this. They had momentum six to eight weeks ago and we knocked them off.
"We have a bit of friendly fire [with reliability problems] that we need to tidy up, but team is exceptional and we know what we need to improve.
"[McLaren] look strong this weekend but we are positive."
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| Series | Formula 1 |
| Author | Jonathan Noble |
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