• 2010 season

Webber predicts three-horse race

Mark Webber doesn't see Mercedes as a title threat © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News:
• Mercedes still in the running - Brawn
  

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Christian Horner
• |
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• McLaren
• |
• Mercedes
• |
• Red Bull

Mark Webber has predicted Formula One 2010 will turn into a three-horse race this season between Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.

All three teams have taken one victory each from the first three races, while last year's championship winners Mercedes has failed to live up to its pre-season hype. Webber did not completely rule out the ex-Brawn team but said he saw the title being fought out by the other three.

"I think Ferrari and McLaren are very strong - clearly it's three teams already," Webber said. "Mercedes are doing okay but it's Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull who are the most consistent at the moment in terms of pace."

After problems with reliability in the opening two rounds, Red Bull finally showed its potential in Malaysia by taking a dominant one-two victory. Webber is keen that his team builds on that success over the next few rounds.

"The momentum needs to start building pretty quickly," Webber said. "The job they've done to recover off some tough weekends is a real credit to the team. The spirit internally in our team and the chemistry is sensational, working with Renault and Red Bull, everyone together is fighting incredibly hard. We take on these big manufacturer teams but our team is very unique. So far it hasn't been the smoothest championship but to come back is a very good performance."

Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreed his team needed to maintain its high standard from Malaysia after a "frustrating" start to the season.

"We won the last three races of 2009 and we knew we had a good car coming into this year," Horner said. "We've been very fast in Bahrain, we should have won that, but for a spark plug problem and a wheel problem for Sebastian in Melbourne. It's just frustrating - we should have won the first two races. We'll just look to extract the maximum we can out of the car. The drivers are both in great form and we'll try our hardest to try and replicate the sort of form we demonstrated in Malaysia."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.