Question: What are your feelings about this circuit, about Singapore? Your feelings about racing at night?
Mark Webber: I think it is great coming here. It is a brilliant change for us to race at night. I think it worked very well last year in terms of the atmosphere. I think it was pretty good whether you were a journalist, photographer, spectator, driver, mechanic. I think it was just a unique one and I think all sporting events at night have a little bit of a different feel to them, an atmosphere. I think they have learned a little bit with the track. They have changed a little bit this year with the bumps here and there, a little bit of kerbing, the pit lane entry and exit, there are a few little tweaks. It was a good event and I like coming to this part of the world. It is not far from home for me, so it is good.
Question: Mark, do you still feel the championship is possible?
Mark Webber: The drivers’ championship is very difficult. I think Jenson has to get four or five points on us and it’s all over. I am coming here trying to get the best result for me and looking forward to Suzuka next week as well as we have got a few good tracks hopefully that we can get some good results at. But the championship is much more difficult now.
Question: Is it a circuit you feel is more suited to the car?
Mark Webber: No, I think we have seen already in Monaco and Valencia that they have not been probably our best circuits of the year compared to some others but it doesn’t mean we are going to be out the back massively. We are still going to be in the hunt but we won’t have an advantage. The stop-start nature of these tracks is something we will look to improve next year.
Question: Mark, considering the ban to Flavio Briatore and he is your manager. Do you think he will be missed in Formula One?
Mark Webber: He will be missed or I will miss him?
Question: If Formula One is going to miss a person like Briatore?
Mark Webber: Yes, for sure. He was a very good character for our sport and I think a lot of people agree with that but it doesn’t seem like he is going to be around again for a good while, so that is the way it is.
Question: Can I ask where does that leave you then?
Mark Webber: My life has changed massively. It has turned it upside down. You wouldn’t believe. Honestly I have had Flavio looking after me for 11 years. I have never looked at the contract after I signed it on that first day and there are not many people in this paddock you can do that with. He has been sensational for me. I won’t work with anyone else in the future if I can’t work with him.
Question: After we had the Renault ruling this week, do you think that there are still some wider effects from the fall-out of the Renault scandal going into this race, or is it back to business for Formula One, anticipating the next one maybe?
Mark Webber: Well, I don’t think it’s ideal for our sport. We all love the sport and so we all strive very hard to get here. It was a dream for all of us to compete at the highest level, so when it’s not about… when I was growing up, the Sennas, the Prosts and those guys were people you aspired to and I’m sure whether it’s photographers or journalists or anyone you want to try and aspire to work at the top end of the sport. It’s a shame that you’re not always reporting about activities that you should be reporting about. There’s been a consistent trend over the last few years like that. I’m certainly running out of patience sticking up for the sport and I’m sure other people are as well.
Question: Do you think it’s right not to penalise Nelsinho after what’s happened ?
Mark Webber: The situation that happened is very complex. Again, I’m not really in a position to really understand. I only see what you guys see. Whether he should get a big penalty or not is not that easy to comment on. I think enough damage has been done to him. First of all, he got himself in a situation that of course he regrets. That’s what he did and that’s what he has to live with. I think it’s very difficult for him to come back.
Question: As drivers and fans, doesn’t it make you want to scream when you hear this stuff? You seem to be pretty quiet and calm; it’s quite shocking, isn’t it?
Mark Webber: Yeah, but you know mate, we get used to it, we get used to it as drivers because the stuff that goes on, goes on, and what can we do? As we’ve just said, we are fans of the sport as well, we want it to be projected in the right way, we want it to be taken very seriously, like you obviously hope most other sports can be, but at the moment, it’s off the back of another poor example. We’re not proud of that, of course, but all of us in this room, us four, haven’t been involved in what happened last year, but we can’t do anything about it. Yeah, you can look at the way it gets handled, you can look at that, how the cases get handled, you can look at that in isolation but again, that’s not up to us.
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