Webber: Williams could have finished me.

Mark Webber claims that he was lucky anyone wanted to employ him for the 2007 Formula One season after his spell at Williams failed to live up to expectation.

The Australian joined Williams in what he described as a 'dream move' two years ago, but the fall-out with BMW in 2005 and then poor reliability in 2006 failed to provide him with the stepping stone to a race win. According to The Australian newspaper, Webber believes that he was 'relieved to get out of Williams alive' when he signed a deal to join Red Bull Racing, effectively the team he left, as Jaguar Racing, to link up with the Grove operation.

"There's 550 people at Williams and no-one's reputation was really enhanced in the last 24 months - and I was included in that," he admitted, "Every year's a make or break - you can very easily derail any career if it doesn't go right for you - and I was very fortunate to come out of Williams unscathed, to be honest."

Although Williams apparently tried to keep Webber on board for a third season in 2007, when it links up with its third engine supplier, Toyota, in as many year, the Australian decided that he had to move on to keep his career moving.

"I'm still getting over this year but, after a couple of weeks off, I'll be fully charged and ready to go again," he insisted, "I could have gone another year there and tried to get some results - which I was greatly trying to do - but, in the end, the opportunity at Red Bull was too great to pass up."

Although he left Jaguar Racing while the team was on its way down, prior to being snapped up by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, Webber is excited to be returning to the Milton Keynes outfit, alongside David Coulthard, next season.

"There are a lot of people worried about how the team might do, which is good," he said, "I've got a really good situation at Red Bull. Technically, they are superb and, hopefully, they can work as a team and we can put a good car together.

"If it happens very, very quickly, I have plenty of time [left in my career]. If it doesn't, time might not work in my favour. But I'm confident that that won't be the case. I still believe we can go and get some good results before I'm an old bastard - but we've got to go out there and deliver."