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Toro Rosso drivers first in line if Webber retires - Marko

ESPNF1 Staff
June 8, 2011 « Ecclestone could send own inspector to Bahrain | »
Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari are likely to be called upon if Mark Webber leaves Red Bull © Sutton Images
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A Toro Rosso driver is likely to step up to the Red Bull team if Mark Webber leaves at the end of the season.

Webber is on a rolling year-by-year contract at Red Bull and last month said his position at the team in 2012 would depend on how he feels when the negotiations come around. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko indicated that one of the Toro Rosso drivers, currently Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, would be first in line to get the seat if Webber moves on.

"This is by design," Marko told Italian magazine Autosprint. "We will try to do what we did three years ago with Sebastian Vettel, when David Coulthard retired."

But he warned that the process would not be "automatic".

"If a driver does not meet all of the professional requirements, we will not offer him the opportunity to drive at Red Bull."

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