HOCKENHEIM, (AFP)

Australian Mark Webber insisted Thursday he has no regrets about his “not bad for a number two” comments after winning the British Grand Prix.

The 33-year-old did admit, however, that he wished he had been ruder over the radio so that his comments were not broadcast to millions of listening fans.

“I don’t have any regrets. As a sportsman, and that is why we are all here - it’s a sport - and things happen in the heat of the moment that just happen.

“I should have put some colourful language either side of my radio transmission, because maybe it would never have got run, but I was polite and it did get run, and then a few extra people heard what I had to say.

“In the end, we are a very, very strong team - the mechanics, everyone together on the floor, all the guys, we are very strong. It was a very unique situation and of course one we have learned from, and we will be going forward very aggressively from here on.”

Shortly before qualifying, a new front wing part was taken from Webber’s car and switched to teammate Sebastien Vettel’s car - because the 23-year-old German was ahead in this year’s title race. After the British Grand Prix race, won by Webber, it is now the Australian who is ahead of Vettel in the race for the title behind the two McLaren men, Britons Lewis Hamilton and defending champion Jenson Button.

Webber added that the front wing issue was water under the bridge, and insisted that his relationship both with Vettel and with the rest of his team is just fine.

“It was a pretty emotionallycharged weekend,” he said. “We all know that there were a few things that went on, but it can all easily get blown out pretty quickly. And to be honest, it did.

“Everything is fine. I had no worries at all that things wouldn’t have been addressed, and they were. Christian and I had a good discussions about things, which wasn’t too difficult.

“And here we are ready to go at the German Grand Prix - and looking forward to it.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner conceded that he could have handled the situation better, and spoken to Webber before removing the wing from his car.

“Obviously at Silverstone we could have done a better job in communicating with the driver just before qualifying - but situations happen sometimes, and they happen up and down the pitlane, where decisions have to be made,” he said.

“Obviously we spoke about it after the event, and a lot was made of it - perhaps more than it warranted.”