Mark Webber: “You cannot just get your fourths and fifths…”

Mark Webber says he can win the 2012 World Championship – but admits that he will have to win some races rather than rely on consistent finishing.

The Monaco GP winner moved into second place in the table when he finished fourth in Valencia.

“The chances are as good as anyone else, I would say,” said Webber. “Obviously I’m with a very good team, I’ve driven very well from I would say the last six races of last year to the first six or seven races of this year. It looks like 2010 in terms of how tight it can be.

“You’ve got to stay in the hunt, you’ve got to be consistent, but you still need to win. You cannot just get your fourths and fifths, you still need to have the opportunity to win Grands Prix and then make sure that you are finishing the other ones, because DNFs obviously hurt as well.

“It is tight between lots of different people, and I think because points have been stolen off people – if you look at the podium in Valencia and Canada for that matter championship guys are winning the races, but in term of championship guys on the podium, it was a bit softer. Sometimes guys on the podium were not guys who are winning races.”

Meanwhile regarding his future plans Webber suggested that retirement at the end of the season is not on his mind right now.

“As I said at the start of the year I think the winter break was good for me and my focus was to really enjoy the start of this season and get the most out of driving again, which was clearly all in my hands, with my motivation and my level of spirit towards the job and the guys.

“So that’s what I’m doing at the moment, I’m really, really enjoying my work. For next year there’s a pretty decent chance I’ll be racing in F1. Let’s see come November, maybe it looks good.”