Mat Coch writes:

Not for the first time Mark Webber has moved to distance himself from suggestions he will leave Formula One at the end of the year in favour of a move to Porsche in the World Endurance Championship.

"The publication where it comes from is pretty special to say the least," Webber scoffed on Australian television ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. "I think people are putting two and two together and getting a bit more."

The rumour originated in Germany some months ago, though it was not picked up by the mainstream media until the fall-out from the controversial Malaysian Grand Prix.

"I'm lean fit, strong, healthy, got a few niggles here and there but that's to be expected," he laughed. "I can still hang on to these cars for two hours.

"I haven't made any decisions, I never have done at this point in my season," he added. "To make a decision now and make my bed right now wouldn't be very clever."

Webber has endured a tough 2013 season to date, beginning in Australia when an electronic problem meant he got a poor start. "It was a McLaren thing," he explained.

The Woking squad which supplies the standard ECU which all teams use has come under fire not only for the Webber incident, but a lack of reliability during pre-season testing and for the part it plays in the FIA's telemetry systems.

For the fourth race running the sport's governing body was forced to disable the device. Pitpass understands the root cause to be the McLaren ECU.

"Obviously apologies are all well and good after events but the damage was done," Webber shrugged. "We've had a pretty tough start but it's not as if it's spilt milk.

"We've got to keep our head down and arse up and keep going," he added. "You've just got to put it behind you. We've got some cracking circuits coming up and looking forward to getting in to it."