Webber relaxed about Red Bull future

Webber has a contract with the Milton Keynes-based outfit for next year, but that has not stopped rumours that either he or teammate David Coulthard could be moved aside to make way for Alonso.

But just 24 hours after Coulthard said he was sure he would be at Red Bull next year, Webber has also dismissed any talk that his own place is in doubt.

"I haven't gone through my contract in that sort of detail but I'm pretty sure I'll be driving there," Webber said, referring to explanations from Coulthard that his contract guarantees him a seat at F1 events.

"David is obviously looking at it a bit more than I am."

Webber, who will be testing for Red Bull at Jerez next week, also said in the interview with the Canberra Times that his team needed to make a big push to improve reliability in 2008.

"We need to put in a huge amount of effort to address the problems we had during the year," he said. "Then we've got to try and bridge the gap between the two top teams Ferrari and McLaren and they're not going to be easy to catch."

Talking about the progress of Lewis Hamilton over the 2007 season, Webber said he was surprised at the way the young Briton maintained his strong performances for the whole season.

"It's never been done before and probably won't be done for a long, long time. It was impressive," he said.

"He arrived at the top and you see a lot of drivers come in and waste those opportunities but Lewis didn't and he delivered for McLaren. His consistency was a bigger surprise."