“There will be a lot of pressure on the team with him arriving, because it needs to be a step forward for him, so they need to give him at least what Toro Rosso gave him this year in terms of performance,” autosport.com quoted Webber as saying earlier last week.
The Australian also reckoned that the RBR car suffered from reliability problems throughout 2008 and that most of it was not engine-related.
“You can't always put it down to bad luck or we must do better, you cannot ignore the fact that Bourdais and Vettel were quicker than us in most places we went to. Why? I don't know. It is not just Sebastian, it is Bourdais as well. We didn't run out of steam, but we certainly didn't score enough points - that is bloody clear. The races come thick and fast, you do your best at every one you go to, and clearly it was a let down from the start we had,” insisted Webber.
Vettel managed to score Toro Rosso's first win inside Formula 1 – at Monza – after previously setting the fastest lap in the qualifying session. The German ended the season in 8th place overall, having scored more points than both Red Bull Racing drivers together (35, as compared to 29 from Webber and David Coulthard).
Nevertheless, his Australian teammate insisted he is not threatened by the new competition and expects a good relationship with the German newcomer.
“It is a pretty good driver line-up. He has gathered a lot of experience very quickly, partly because he is a gifted young guy. The frightening thing with him is that he will get better. Vettel and myself hopefully will have a good relationship, which seems to be the case at the moment. Obviously when you race each other in the same team, the relationship can be a bit strained at times but we should be alright,” concluded Webber.
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