Christian Horner believes Mark Webber's victory at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix will give him a "good confidence boost" for the 2012 season.
The Australian's win at Interlagos was his one and only victory of the 2011 campaign and helped him to finish third in the Drivers' Championship. Despite his efforts in Brazil, the 2011 season has been a disappointing one for Webber as his team-mate Sebastian Vettel has dominated this year, winning 11 grands prix.
Red Bull team principal Horner is confident Webber will come back stronger next year as a result of his win on Sunday.
"It's great he's won a race," Horner said. "It would have been very tough for him to have gone into the winter with Seb having won 11 races (this season) and Mark not having won one.
"Arguably one of the best races to win is the last race, which sets him up very nicely going into the winter.
"Mark will now go away and reflect on this year, and let's not take anything away from Sebastian because he's been operating at such a high level.
"That is what has compounded the issue for Mark. He's been up against a team-mate in the most phenomenal form.
"But this win will hopefully give him a good confidence boost, and he will go into the winter, have a bit of time off, recharge his batteries and I'm sure he'll come back strong in 2012."
Webber started second on the grid in Brazil and he appeared to be on course to finish behind Vettel, but his team-mate was slowed down with a gearbox problem and he "inherited" the win.
Horner admits Webber would have proffered to go wheel-to-wheel with Vettel for the victory.
"I guess it was because he would have loved to have beaten Sebastian in a fair, straight fight," he said.
"To have inherited the lead, any driver is going to take that and that's part of grand prix racing.
"But if anybody thinks that win was concocted in any way, I can absolutely hand on heart guarantee you that based on the blood pressure rising on the pit wall, rest assured it was a genuine issue."
