Webber suggests he is now Red Bull's best bet

Spa-Francorchamps: Mark Webber suggested on Sunday that the time was fast approaching for Red Bull to back him for the Formula One championship over accident-prone team mate Sebastian Vettel.

The Australian extended his advantage over Vettel to 28 points after finishing runner-up in Belgium, while losing the overall lead to McLaren's race winner Lewis Hamilton. With Hamilton a further three points ahead of Webber in the standings, the 34-year-old clearly felt he was now his team's best bet for their first title.

"McLaren have won many championships, so they have a pretty good trophy cabinet," Webber told a post-race news conference when he and Hamilton were asked if they expected their teams to focus more on them from now on. "Red Bull have a good trophy cabinet but not one like McLaren's. So it depends on how hungry we are to try and do that. I think it's too early at the moment (for preferential treatment). "Having said that, maybe there is a different strategy compared to McLaren," added Webber, who triggered a favouritism furore at Silverstone in July when he referred to himself as a 'number two' driver.

"I'm not sure. It's still too early at the moment but not far away, I would say." Hamilton said he did not think there should be any preferential treatment at McLaren, who have won eight constructor's titles and 12 drivers' crowns over the years as well as 169 races.

The 2008 champion's win at Spa cut Red Bull's lead in the constructors' standings to a single point with six races left. Vettel failed to score in Belgium after crashing into McLaren's Jenson Button, ending the defending champion's race, and then collecting a drive through penalty.

The 23-year-old, who collided with Webber at the Turkish Grand Prix in May while challenging the Australian for the lead in the closing stages, then tangled with Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi and picked up a puncture.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner praised Webber's performance, after a sluggish start blamed on the car's anti-stall device, but made clear that both his men would continue to receive equal treatment.

"There are 150 points still available. The two guys (Hamilton and Webber) have broken away a little bit from the rest of the pack with the other three title protagonists (Vettel, Button and Fernando Alonso) not scoring today," he said.

"But it's still too early to be contemplating that. I think all five are still in this championship with the way that the points scoring is, the gap's quite deceptive. "Mark is a sportsman and a realist and he knows the numbers as well as anyone else," added Horner. "He's realistic enough to know that things can change very quickly but he's in a great position."

Webber has won more races than anyone this season, four to Hamilton's three, and Horner said the Australian was in the form of his life but Vettel was still there. "It would be a foolish person to rule Sebastian out at the moment," he said.