Five months after he shattered his leg in a cycling accident, Mark Webber is back on his bike and closer to Formula One glory than he has ever been before.
The return to recreational cycling has been an ironic consequence of his mountain bike accident in November, with the 32-year-old Australian still unable to run properly due to the surgery he underwent.
The success on the racetrack, with the Red Bull driver taking a career best second place behind team mate Sebastian Vettel in China last weekend, is a mark of just how far he has come in the last few months.
"So far this year I've been strong at all venues and I want to continue that," Webber told Reuters at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
"When you are always in the hunt in the first few (races), your day will come. Like (former Red Bull team mate) David Coulthard said to me, second to first is a small gap and hopefully one day it will come for me.
"I'm optimistic that it will come (this season). This is absolutely and clearly my best chance."
Webber, often referred to as one of the unluckiest and most under-rated of drivers, has come agonisingly close before.
He might have won in Japan two years ago but was shunted out while in second place by Vettel, then with Toro Rosso. He might have won in Shanghai had events gone his way rather than Vettel's.
"It would mean a lot to me to win my first race," he said. "I need to be 10 seconds (ahead of Vettel) down the road."
Team boss Christian Horner marvelled at the Australian's comeback and commitment.
"For me, Mark has been mega this year," he said. "In November he was sitting in a Tasmanian hospital with a pin in his leg, not knowing whether it was going to be the end of his career because it was a really nasty compound fracture.
"I had dinner with him when he came back at Christmas and he forgot to tell us that he had broken his shoulder as well," added the Briton.
"He turned up and said 'Don't worry mate, it's all going okay'. The commitment he put into his recovery was just awesome.
"I said to him in China that it was a big moment for him to be standing up there after all he's gone through and he's driving very well," added Horner.
"Mark is absolutely no slouch ... obviously there's a lot of focus on Sebastian at the moment but there's not a lot between them.
"I think in Monaco he'll be quick, in Istanbul last year for us he was massively impressive, at Silverstone in qualifying. I don't see any reason why he can't be a factor at all the circuits."
Webber, who races with a titanium pin in his right leg, said he was getting back to full fitness.
"My engine is pretty good, the conditioning is not bad at all. I still can't run at the moment, I have issues with running because procedurally the operation was good but could have been a bit better," he said.
"It's just a sport that maybe has to be on hold for another eight months.
"Running's obviously a lot safer than mountain biking or cycling but unfortunately cycling and mountain biking is what I can do at the moment. So I need to start doing more of that. Christian is not happy, but I need to talk to him about it."
Webber, whose final round of surgery is likely in December, said it had felt fantastic to get back on his bike for the first time before last month's Melbourne season-opener but was being more cautious.
"I used to take stupid risks, absolutely unbelievable risks," he said, referring to cycling on public roads in the south of France and coming down mountain passes and around blind corners at 80 kph.
"You think you're bomb-proof, and cars hurt," he said. "Now I know how lucky I was and how much misery I went through and my mind has changed obviously for that situation. But my mind hasn't changed whatsoever in the car."
