By Steve Slater
MARK Webber's win has been a long time coming.
According to my records, the Australian last won a motor race of any description back in 2001, when he won the Formula 3000 race which supported the French GP at Magny Cours.
Webber won three races that season, among a series of strong results which propelled him into Formula One.
The following year, 2002, Webber made a dream debut at the Australian Grand Prix, driving for the Minardi team which was then owned by fellow Aussie Paul Stoddart.
It didn't seem to matter that, like so many rookies, Webber was starting his career with a back-of- the-grid team, home expectations were high.
Webber arrived for his debut race in Melbourne, waving from the cockpit of one of his team boss' jumbo jets with his Minardi F1 car in the cargo hold.
Then in the race itself, Mark pulled off the seemingly impossible.
From eighteenth place on the starting grid, he claimed fifth place and two championship points on his debut.
It still seems amazing to me that Mark has taken so long to progress from that day to this, more than seven years and 130 races later.
It has been a rollercoaster ride, taking him through the Jaguar and Williams teams, before joining Red Bull in 2007.
Since then he has been a key part of the team's renaissance and in typically straight fashion he has not responded to all the media hype surrounding German "wunderkind" Sebastian Vettel.
He has let his driving do the talking.
Red Bull racing are now in the perfect situation.
Their second successive one-two finish shows they have undoubtedly the best car on the track at the moment.
Their two drivers are pushing one another to the limit, yet still working in harmony.
In contrast, championship leaders Brawn GP are suddenly looking more vulnerable.
The last two races, held in lower ambient temperatures, have exposed a weakness in the Brawn BGP001 car's ability to get its tyres to a high-enough working temperature and chinks are appearing in the vital relationship between its drivers.
Rubens Barrichello's disappointment after dropping from the race lead to finish sixth might be understandable.
But his outburst to media in the paddock after the race, that he felt that the team had let him down was as inappropriate as it was factually incorrect.
I respect the Brazilian hugely, but this time he was out of order.
His Brawn team were thwarted by a faulty fuel rig which could not have been predicted.
Their only failure was perhaps to have failed to tell him this in time, to avoid his making a fool of himself.
Rubens should count himself lucky that he has a cool and calm team boss in Ross Brawn.
If Barrichello were driving for someone like Briatore, the tantrum might well have cost him his drive.
Meanwhile Jenson Button is like Brawn, a pragmatist.
He's been through the bad times and driven some bad cars, for long enough to recognise when his lucky star is in the ascendancy.
Earlier this season he divulged that he didn't know how long his luck might hold, but he was going to make the most of it.
Even though the Brawn has been outpaced in the last two races, Jenson still sits on a commanding 21-point championship lead.
If one were to assume that Jenson were to maybe win two more races in hotter climates, such as Hungary and Valencia; the Red Bull drivers (or the fast-recovering Ferraris or McLarens) may force Button into third or worse, in cooler climes such as Monza or Spa.
I suspect that the title showdown will be at earliest, the Singapore GP in September.
The question is will the title go to a Button and Brawn, or to a Red Bull driver?
It is still not too late for a dramatic change of fortunes.
Just as in the past two seasons, we might savour a finely balanced title battle right to the last race.
Steve Slater is an F1 race commentator with STAR Sports
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