The comments made in this site about Mark Webber in relation to his performance, or lack thereof, and his position at Red Bull I think may miss a point. Do teams want both drivers competing for the top spot, and is Webber that bad or is it just that his teammate is fast.

I will take the second point first and then try to answer the first.

Comparison with teammates is always a reasonable start to assess the talent of a driver. (In theory, teammates should both have the same car and similar levels of support).  Webber started in F1 in 2002 driving for Minardi, his teammate, Alex Young, was not exactly a star performer but Webber did manage to beat him 16 th place to 20th. His move to Jaguar for the 2003 did improve his overall position, but his teammates were replaced mid-season so comparison is not possible. In 2005, Webber was driving for BMW Williams and his teammate was Nick Heidfeld, he finished the season one place above Heidfeld in tenth place, however, Heidfeld only started 14 of the 19 races, and Webber raced all 19. The following year he did beat the young Nico Rosberg in Rosberg's first season. David Coulthard bested Webber in 2007, but he did overcome the Scotsman in 2008, but it was David's last season and his motivation was at a low ebb.

Webber won his first race in 2009 and finished in fourth in the championship, his teammate Sebastian Vettel was second.  
It is true that when Webber's teammates are complete non-entities he wins, but against quality drivers such as, Coulthard, Vettel and Heidfeld, he has been out raced.

The most telling evidence against Webber is his very poor overall win or podium rate. He has competed in 144 races, had only two wins and eleven podiums. He always seems to have a ready excuse for his performance, but it seems that he either is happy with playing second or just does not have the skills. The evidence indicates strongly he lacks the capacity to challenge the better drivers.
 
The question must thus be why team Red Bull keep him. The answer is speculation, but I suspect it is because the team is not used to big success yet, they are not Ferrari or McLaren and may find it difficult to demand more from the number two driver. - They are so happy to have a race winner like Sebastian Vettel; Webber is of little real significance. Such is likely to change, as the team develops they will want to win the Constructors title and will need two good drivers, and Webbers lack of ambition will be troubling.
 
It is possible that Red Bull will prefer just to have one big personality in the team; it certainly avoids the conflicts witnessed when Senna was paired with Prost, or Prost with Mansell or even Alonso with Hamilton.
 
The real issue for Red Bull is not Mark Webber; he is not a winner and is unlikely to be part of the development strategy. The pressing issue is how to hold onto Sebastian Vettel at the end of this season. They must improve the car's reliability and have a more aggressive race strategy. If Vettel thinks he can win the championship in a Red Bull, he will in all likelihood stay, if not Ferrari, Mercedes et al will snap him up.
 
Webber's contract terminates at the end of this season, unless he can bring in huge sponsorship to the team, there seems no advantage in to the team in keeping him. Several potential race winners would jump at the chance to be in a fast car and with a little help may help Red Bull / Vettel do the double.
 
No doubt, Webber has earned a lot of money in his F1 career and can retire into obscurity very comfortably.

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