Webber is ready for 'one final push'

ABU DHABI // Mark Webber said his Red Bull-Renault team have already conquered the "Everest of motorsports" by winning the Formula One constructors' championship, but insists he has arrived in the capital ready for one final push to secure the "one that everyone remembers".

The Australian is in second place in the drivers' championship, eight point behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and seven ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel going into Sunday's final grand prix of the season at Yas Marina.

Webber, who finished second at the Brazilian Grand Prix last Sunday, said he hopes to emulate Vettel, winner at the inaugural Abu Dhabi race last year, and stand on top of the podium in the capital.

"Last year, I won in Brazil and [Vettel] won here, so this weekend I am hoping we'll switch it up," Webber, 34, said last night. "The team has performed incredibly well all season and we are in a position to add to our first world championship, which we won on Sunday.

"The constructors' championship is a big feather in our cap. To have taken Ferrari and McLaren on in the space of five or six years when they have been around for 40-50 years; to take it to them on the racetracks all over the world and beat them has been an incredible achievement for us.

"It is the Everest of motorsports and something that we are all very proud of. But now we are here to win the one that everyone remembers: the drivers championship."

Webber joked he could not remember who won the constructors' title in 1997, but he could recall Jacques Villeneuve lifting the drivers' championship that year.

"It's certainly the most popular championship," he said. "We have an incredible battle to look forward to this weekend."

Webber also played down rumours that Vettel will be ordered to allow Webber to win in order to deny Alonso the title.

"Team philosophy is that we don't have any of that, so we are just going to go out there and do our best for each other," he said.

gmeenaghan@thenational.ae