APRIL 23, 2013

Webber wants to remain in F1

Mark Webber has cooled speculation he is on the verge of quitting formula one by insisting he is still "hungry" for success.

Mark Webber has cooled speculation he is on the verge of quitting formula one by insisting he is still hungry for success.

Amid rumours his team is lining up Kimi Raikkonen to replace him in 2014, the 36-year-old Australian flew straight from Bahrain to Austria to appear on a Red Bull-owned Servus TV broadcast.

"I'm still hungry, I still want to do well," German-language reports quote him saying.

"I think I still have a few years left in me.

"As long as I'm fit, the performance is still there and the job is fun ... that's actually the most important thing, that it's fun," said Webber.

"How it's going to go exactly, I don't know," he added, following reports Porsche is keen to finalise a long-term agreement with him for its Le Mans prototype project.

"I have never decided what I'm doing for the next year in April, and I'm not going to start now," said Webber.

Webber's comments are unlikely to calm the speculation about his future.

Asked after the Bahrain grand prix if Red Bull is still interested in Raikkonen, Dr Helmut Marko admitted: "We have always admitted that we are looking at him.

"And, for the umpteenth time, Red Bull traditionally looks at its driver issues only in the summer," he is quoted by Speed Week.

Webber sat out Red Bull's post-race victory team photograph following teammate Sebastian Vettel's second win of the season last Sunday.

(GMM)