Marko weighs up future for Webber, Alguersuari

Helmut Marko insists Red Bull has not decided whether Mark Webber should remain Sebastian Vettel’s teammate at the dominant team in 2012.

All the ’silly season’ talk in the last few days has been about Lewis Hamilton switching from McLaren, but Red Bull’s driver manager Marko told Bild am Sonntag that he doesn’t think the 2008 world champion is available.

"To our knowledge he is with McLaren until 2013, which is a long time," said the Austrian.

"We need someone who is as good as Sebastian, because we have found that the constructors’ title is very interesting financially, and you can do it only with two strong drivers," insisted Marko.

Australian Webber, 34, helped Red Bull win the 2010 titles and almost won the drivers’ championship himself, but has struggled alongside Vettel in the otherwise-dominant RB7.

"He has told us that he wants to go on with us for another year. We are looking at this," admitted Marko. "Stability is important for a team."

He played down the likelihood that Toro Rosso drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari are ready for the move to Red Bull.

"Our young guys at Toro Rosso have missed the last little spark for that," said Marko.

The heat is particularly on Jaime Alguersuari, who is said to be in immediate danger of losing his seat to the next Red Bull hotshoe, Daniel Ricciardo.

"In the simulator and in practice, his results are very good, but we need to see what he can do in the race," said Marko.