Webber’s chance for glory
Australia hasn’t had a World Champion Formula 1 driver since 1980 when Alan Jones won the championship driving for Williams. Mark Webber is Australia’s only driver in Formula 1 these days, and although there has been a lot of hype about his abilities, his best finish has been third in the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix. It hasn’t helped that he has been a driver on teams like Jordan, Minardi, and Williams. It was promising when he signed a contract with Williams because they were an established team with a great history; unfortunately, the car has not been the strongest and he hasn’t had the expected results.
Now there are reports that Webber is on the shortlist of candidates to replace Fernando Alonso once Alonso vacates his seat with Renault to drive for McLaren next year. Webber needs to make a choice - stay loyal to the team that gave him his first legitimate opportunity or jump ship to the most reliable team with an even better chance of winning. If anything has been proven over the past two seasons, it’s that Renault is the standard that all other teams are trying to emulate.
Webber has come out and said that he wants to stay at Williams through the end of his contract, provided Williams picks up the option on his contract. I say he jumps ship now and give himself the best chance to win a championship. That chance exists with Renault; it doesn’t exist at the moment, with Williams.
[...] Mark Webber had his future determined for him after Williams decided to not pick up the option on his contract for next season. In an earlier entry, I wrote about the great opportunity that Webber could be faced with at the end of the season, but now that Williams has decided to go in another direction, I believe Webber will end up driving for Renault. [...]