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AUSTRALIAN Mark Webber will find himself in an unusual but welcome new role next week when he travels to Spa-Francorchamps - as favourite to win the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver, who leads the drivers' championship after claiming his fourth win of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, may also want to celebrate his 34th birthday on Saturday by ending team-mate Sebastian Vettel's domination of pole position.
The young German, who was 23 in July, has taken the prime starting spot at the last four race weekends in succession. But he knows that Webber, controlled and confident, is in the kind of form and frame of mind not only to qualify well but to win the race.
Since his last victory, support for Webber's bid to become the third Australian champion, following Jack Brabham (1959, 1960 and 1966) and Alan Jones (1980), has grown.
Last week his manager and erstwhile paddock personality, Flavio Briatore predicted he was set to triumph thanks to his new found maturity.
"Mark is a driver capable of exceptional feats," said Briatore, who was team boss at Benetton and Renault and oversaw world titles won by German Michael Schumacher and Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
"He has now reached a maturity and inner calmness that can take him really far.
"In Hungary he was the first one who understood that he could take a risk in running for three-quarter distance on the soft tyres he had at the start."
