Mark Webber has come a long way in his 14-year Formula One racing career. The 36 year old veteran started as a test driver for Arrows, got his first start with perennial bottom feeders Minardi and then bounced around to three other teams before landing at Red Bull Racing in 2007. Throughout his seven years with Red Bull, Webber has shown himself to be a competitive teammate, a winner and definitely outspoken. 

Last year, Webber remained loyal to Red Bull and signed a one-year deal to stay on and partner Sebastian Vettel. Unfortunately with a one-year deal you don’t have much security and that wasn’t helped earlier in the year by a disregarding of team orders in Malaysia by three-time champion Vettel that took away a tenth career victory from Webber and gave it to the reigning champ. Given all the uncertainty surrounding Webber’s future at Red Bull, he still is fifth in the driver standings with plenty of races left in the season. 

I had the chance to sit down at a roundtable discussion with Mark Webber ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal to discuss the track, racing and Red Bull’s new title sponsor – Infiniti. Infiniti and Red Bull have had a partnership since 2011, but as a title sponsor, the team is now known as Infiniti Red Bull Racing, which is a pretty big deal. A big enough deal that Vettel was named Infiniti’s Director of Performance.

As for Webber, he’s looking forward to the race in Montreal. A race that he called a top event on the circuit with a lot of character, history and memories. He has never won the Canadian Grand Prix, only finishing on the podium once in 2011 with a third place finish, so his favourite memories were when he was a child watching the likes of Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. 

Webber is ready for the difficult challenge that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve presents. He acknowledged the toll the track takes on its drivers and its race cars, but believes his experience and team can help him achieve success.

Webber is one of the few old school drivers still around. Despite his dislike for new gadgets and KERS in the race cars, he does embrace modern technology. He believes you have to go forward with technology and the use of Infiniti’s resources has currently helped the Red Bull team and will in the future. “There were safety issues in the past with cars blowing up and people dying, so clearly technology has helped to develop and understand cars a lot more,” said Webber.

After this year, Webber’s future with Red Bull is up in the air, but he wants to focus his attention to the Canadian Grand Prix. Results in the coming months will be a key factor in deciding his future with the team. He acknowledges a strong relationship with Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz – but Webber wants to be in charge of what he decides to do. After 14 years of Formula One racing and seven of them at Red Bull, he feels he has the right to decide on his own terms.  There’s no sign of retirement, so we will be seeing Webber on the starting grid next year whether it’s in a Red Bull car or a competitor. Let’s just hope Vettel’s antics in Malaysia weren’t the decisive blow.

Follow along via twitter @david_miller11 to see if Mark Webber can get his first victory in Canada.