Webber: Toyota will be tough to beat

Red Bull Racing had looked likely to emerge as best-of-the-rest behind Ferrari, McLaren and BMW Sauber earlier in the season as Webber put in a run of points finishes.

But big progress by Toyota in recent races has lifted the Japanese manufacturer a few points clear of Renault in fourth, with Webber admitting it will be hard now for his team to close the gap.

"It is going to be a massive fight for us," said Webber, who has failed to score points in the last three races. "Unfortunately we haven't had both cars scoring points, and in the last two races they (Toyota) have.

"And that's something which even if David (Coulthard) and I start doing now, which is going to be tough for us to do, we are still 10 points adrift so it will take a while to recover that."

Although finishing fourth in the constructors' championship is financially lucrative for teams, Webber is doubtful that making a big push with this year's car is actually worth it.

"You could launch a load of development into this year's car and push, and then get ripped off by a safety car in Singapore and lose all that again, or you might gain it the other way," he said. "It is still 12 of one and half a dozen of the other.

"We were always under pressure to hold fourth, and they (Toyota) were always never far from us. I think that certainly the run of points I had, with the exception of Canada, was probably the most we could get.

"You get what you deserve. As my great cricket mate Steve Waugh used to say: The scoreboard never lies mate. So that is where we are."