He may be slightly behind schedule after going under the knife again, but Mark Webber is confident he will hit the ground running in Melbourne.
The Australian underwent an operation on the leg he broke after the 2008 campaign with doctors finally removing the 38cm metal rod from his right limb during the off-season.
Even though he was forced to cut back on conditioning during winter, Webber didn't feel any discomfort when he stepped back into his Red Bull car during the first pre-season test in Jerez last week.
"[I felt] really comfortable, the leg is no problem at all," he said. "I'm probably a little bit behind on condition, but not by much. I'll be ready to go in Melbourne, I'm completely on target for that. I felt better in the car than I thought I would.
"I was in the car for a long period, about two and half hours at one point, so it was a little stiff but that's normal. It will be fine and when the adrenaline is going there will be zero problems."
Driving with a titanium rod in your leg might put a few people off, but Webber says never had concerns about getting into an F1 car.
He added: "It never affected me when I was racing. It affected me when I was doing other sports such as water skiing and mountain biking because I knew it was not going to be beneficial to re-brake my leg with a rod in there.
"Now I have it out I'm not going to be crazy but it's a little bit of peace of mind from a recreational point of view. Also the mind is a great thing because I won't forget the pain I had when I broke my leg so I'm actually getting a bit wiser as I get older, believe it or not."
