Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner feels an overlooked Mark Webber is the dark horse of this season's Formula One world title battle.
The pre-season build-up has understandably focused on the likes of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, Michael Schumacher's comeback, Fernando Alonso switching to Ferrari and the continued rise of Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
As Vettel ran Button close in last year's Championship, of the Red Bull duo, it is the young German who many are backing for a second title tilt.
Veteran Australian Webber barely gets a look in, yet Horner has no doubt the 33-year-old is in the prime of his career and should not be ruled out of the reckoning.
"I don't see any reason why Mark can't be a contender," said Horner.
"People overlook him, but for me he is the dark horse of this year's Championship.
"For sure, Sebastian is a prodigious talent, and to be challenging for a Championship last year was remarkable for a guy in only his second full year of grand prix racing.
"A lot of lesser drivers would have wilted under the pressure of having Sebastian as a team-mate, but he hasn't.
"Mark is a very dedicated sportsman who trains very hard, applies himself 100%, and as an example to aspiring young drivers he is the epitome of what a grand prix driver should be.
"He is in the latter years of his career, not at the end of it, and so he has a lot of experience behind him.
"He is still very driven, but he is also comfortable with where his strengths and weaknesses are, and he works hard on those."
Webber finished 14.5 points adrift of Vettel at the end of the 2009 season, which was an achievement in itself given he was still recovering from a cycling accident at the start of the campaign.
Webber broke a leg and shoulder, and as Horner remarked: "He could barely walk getting onto the plane to go to Australia (for the opening race)."
As the younger, fitter driver, Vettel was the more dominant of the two in the early stages, yet Webber bounced back to finally record his maiden win in Germany before adding another victory in Brazil.
Horner believes those two successes means his rivals, including Vettel, ignore Webber at their peril.
"Last year gave Mark a great deal of inner confidence," added Horner.
"There's a big difference between thinking you can win and knowing you can win.
"Mark had been in Formula One a while and never been in the best situation, in a race-winning car, and then he suddenly found himself with the tools to get the job done.
"Sebastian had the early results, winning in China and Silverstone, and many drivers would have been crushed under that momentum from their team-mate.
"But Mark is a tough competitor, and he turned up in Germany, on Sebastian's home ground, and totally dominated the event.
"Mark demonstrated his abilities last year, and now he has the confidence of being a double grand prix winner.
"Going into 2010 without the injuries he was carrying, he is better prepared than he has ever been. He's had a couple of pins removed from his leg so he has full movement, and he has been able to train properly.
"So it's a different Mark Webber this year compared to the start of last year."
