Webber 'praying' for strong Red Bull

Webber, who endured a dismal year at Williams and scored just seven points, is leaving the Grove-based squad after agreeing a deal with Red Bull, who are hoping for a strong season after hiring aero guru Adrian Newey from the McLaren team.

The Austrian-owned squad will use Renault engines in 2007.

After a promising 2005, Red Bull Racing had a disappointing season, despite scoring their maiden podium at the Monaco Grand Prix.

"There's a lot of pressure inside the team, they want to go and achieve things," Webber told The Age. "They want to make a difference next year, otherwise I wouldn't have gone there.

"Is it world-beating? Over time, it could be but I'm absolutely praying that they're going to be one of the finds of the season next year."

Webber said recently that he regretted having moved to the Williams team, who endured their worst F1 season in 2006, failing to score a podium finish for the first time and finishing down in eighth position with 11 points.

The Australian reckons things can only improve for the British squad.

"They'll have a lot better year next year - they have to because it just couldn't be any worse than this year," Webber said. "Whether it's as good as they want it to be remains to be seen."

Webber admitted he found it tough to keep his motivation towards the end of the year.

"It's never ever happened in my career before but it was tough towards the end because you felt there was not a great deal you could do to make a difference and that was hard."