Webber knows it all but is not telling

Motor Sport Formula One: Following the announcement of Ralf Schumacher's decision to move from Williams to Toyota at the end of this season, his likely replacement at the BMW-powered team, Mark Webber, yesterday admitted that decisions had been made about his Formula One future and that an announcement is due sometime over the next two race weekends.

Williams, who are looking for two new drivers, or big-spending Toyota are the most likely destinations and the timing of Webber's announcement will likely coincide with the activation of a performance clause in the Australian's Jaguar contract which releases him should the team not reach sixth place in the constructors' championship by a certain point in the season, believed to be next month's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Ford-owned team is currently ninth of the 10 teams contesting the championship.

"I know everything, you guys know nothing," Webber said with a smile at a British Grand Prix news conference yesterday.

"It's quite interesting at the moment. Some decisions have been made I suppose, so we've just got to see how it all pans out in the next two races."

Williams must find a new line-up after Toyota confirmed on Wednesday they had signed Ralf Schumacher on a three-year deal. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya agreed last year to join McLaren in 2005.

Williams technical director Sam Michael, also an Australian, said in Canada last month that Webber was the team's top target to replace Montoya, but paddock speculation has recently put Toyota in the frame as well.

Jaguar, Formula One debutants in 2000, have yet to take a point from a British Grand Prix and Webber last scored at the Nurburgring in May. He was ninth in France on Sunday.

"To match Magny-Cours could be difficult to be honest, we'll just have to see how it goes," he said. "Weather is obviously going to play a huge part.

"Our aero package is definitely one of the stronger parts of our car so I'm hoping we can go well. We're not the quickest car around here but we're not the slowest so we'll see where we end up."

The Australian arrived at Silverstone after paying a flying visit to American Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France on Wednesday.

"I admire people that can do things that I can't do," said Webber of the five-times Tour winner. "I don't have many racing drivers as heroes . . . I look up to people like Lance because of what he's gone through.

"I enjoyed that, it was bloody awesome, he took the yellow jersey yesterday . . . then I came back in the helicopter and got stuck at Dover because of the weather so I had five-and-a-half hours on a train yesterday."

Meanwhile, the man being replaced by Montoya at McLaren, David Coulthard, says he is "firmly focused on racing" next season as he looks for a new job.

Coulthard has been linked with the likes of Jaguar and Williams but remains tight-lipped on where he will be driving in 2005.

Only 15 drivers in Formula One history have won more grands prix than Coulthard but his future has hardly been the number-one talking point in the paddock.

However, the 33-year-old remains convinced he will have a drive next year and insists he will look for the fastest car rather than the biggest pay cheque.

"I am firmly focused on racing next year," he said. "I've said many times in the past that my goal has got to be performance from the car rather than the financial package.

"When there's something to say I'll say it. It's down to more than just myself, there is another party.

"It's a question of whether you fit into what's available out there. Teams might have a different agenda to me, maybe they are chasing someone else.

"It's a question of when it's finalised, it's announced."

Coulthard will hoping to press his case for a race drive with a good performance this weekend, to back up the decent showing of McLaren's heavily revised MP4/19B at the French Grand Prix, where he and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen were sixth and seventh respectively.

"The positive thing about the new car was we were better in the French race than you would have seen," he said. "We were closer to the winning car than we have been at any point this year, it is definitely a step forward. It showed we were in a similar area to others."