Mark Webber says he is relishing the chance to recharge his batteries and spend time with his family during the month-long break in the Formula 1 season.
The Aston Clinton racer finished eighth for the second weekend in succession in Hungary to round off what has been a largely frustrating fortnight for him and Red Bull.
And with controversy dogging his efforts in the German Grand Prix previously, Webber admitted the break is just what he and his team needs before resuming the season in Belgium.
“The next three weeks are a chance for everyone in the team to re-charge their batteries and spend some time with family and friends,” Webber said in his weekly race diary.
“We’ll then head to the last nine races and get as many points as we can.
“I love Spa-Francorchamps. It’s one of my favourite racetracks and I’d absolutely love to win there for the first time.”
In Hungary Webber started the race in 11th place and came home 0.5s behind Bruno Senna’s Williams.
“We left a bit on the table today,” says Webber .
“But given where we started, it was good to make up a few places and get some points.
“I’m lying second in the championship, which is okay, but Fernando (Alonso) is still putting some good finishes together and he’s got a good little lead.
“We’ll just continue to take each race as it comes and deal with the championship situation later on in the season.”
Mark made two pitstops during the course of the race, at the second of which he jumped ahead of Alonso. But he then received a radio message with 20 laps to go informing him of a differential problem, which forced him to make a third pitstop after which he dropped from fifth to eighth.
“The differential failure was key,” the Aussie said.
“We had to manage that situation because we thought it would be quite juicy on the tyres, which have tended to fall away at the end of races in the past.”
Webber now has 124 points in the F1 Drivers’ Championship, 40 points behind leader Alonso.