Mark Webber competed in Formula One from the year 2002 to the year 2013 with Minardi and Jaguar, Williams and Red Bull.
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Mark Alan Webber is a former Australian professional racing driver born on 27 August 1976 to middle-class parents, motorcycle dealer and petrol station owner Alan Webber and his wife Diane, in the small New South Wales town of Queanbeyan. Webber has an elder sister, Leanne. He was educated at the nearby Isabella Street Primary School and Karabar High School (KHS). Webber represented KHS in athletics and rugby league and did Australian rules football, cricket and swimming after his mother encouraged him to get involved in as many sports as possible.
At age 13, he was a ball boy for the rugby league team Canberra Raiders for a year and earned money delivering pizzas in the Canberra and Queanbeyan areas in his late schooling years. Webber also worked as an apprentice plumber and woodcutter. Mark competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2013 with Minardi and Jaguar, Williams and Red Bull. He left F1 after 2013 and moved to the WEC, sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Bernhard and Hartley in the fully-professional Le Mans Prototype 1 class from the 2014 to 2016 seasons. Let’s have a look at some of his best F1 drives ever.
Mark Webber made a statement on his Formula 1 debut by qualifying 18th for his hometown race, ahead of Alex Yoong in the other Minardi-Asiatech, the Jaguar team, and a Jordan-Honda. When Ralf Schumacher’s Williams caused an eight-car collision at the first corner, Webber was moved up to eighth and thought back to the pre-race instructions given by team owner Paul Stoddart. Although Webber’s perseverance allowed him to move up to fifth in the final laps, it was still difficult for him to score Minardi’s first points since 1999. He not only got the drive but also the podium on his Formula One debut, with his fifth place finish being celebrated as a triumph.
Car: Minardi PS02
Started: 18th
Result: 5th
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was in second place with four races remaining, 11 points behind Webber, and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull was third, 10 points back. At Suzuka, Vettel won the pole position by 0.068 seconds over Webber, with Alonso starting from the second row. After 53 hard laps, they crossed the finish line in that order, separated by less than three seconds. Webber’s title defense would begin to fall apart at the following round in Korea.
Car: Red Bull RB6
Started: 2nd
Result: 2nd
When Webber faced and defeated Alonso, who had the championship lead going into Silverstone ahead of Webber, he became just the second driver to take home two victories in 2012. In the wet race, Alonso won the pole position, but things changed in the dry. “Fernando started from pole with me alongside. I’ve always enjoyed being the hunter rather than the hunted. When the pitstops shook down, Fernando was leading on softs and I was on the hards. I gradually picked up speed and chased him down, taking the lead with four laps to go.” Expressed Webber.
“It was a nice move round the outside through Brooklands and this added to another special victory. I’ve tremendous memories of Silverstone. I did so much racing there as a youngster, won races in every class and I’ve always had a good following in the UK.” Remembers Webber.
Car: Red Bull RB8
Started: 2nd
Result: 1st
Sebastian Vettel’s serious error in judgment while following a safety car may have given Webber’s Red Bull teammate an advantage, but Webber still had to put in a lot of effort to earn his fourth victory of the year. On lap 18 of 70, that put Webber in charge for the restart, and it was his young teammate who made a mistake.
“I don’t know what Seb was thinking but he completely screwed things up by leaving too big a gap and got himself a penalty. But I remember telling the boys in the radio, ‘Leave me out a bit longer. I think there’s a bit more here and I want to give you an extra three seconds around the stop. Relax. I’ve done the work here; once we do the stop, we’ve won.’ Which was another way of saying, ‘Don’t f*** it up, guys!’ And, of course, they didn’t. A great way to win on what happened to be my 150th GP.” Exclaimed the Aussie driver.
Car: Red Bull RB6
Started: 2nd
Result: 1st
At Monaco, having the pole position may have been more than half the battle, but Webber was aware that every one of the 78 laps would likely present challenges. This was especially true when his teammate took the lead with a different strategy just before halfway through the race, and then it began to drizzle with 10 laps to go. On a day when teammate Vettel finished fourth, Webber held on to win by 0.643s.
“This was probably one of my strongest Saturdays ever in F1. It’s all about strategy, stopping at the right time, covering everyone off and then resetting. I had to run the brake balance a long way forward, which gave me a lot of front locking and a stressful middle part of the GP, particularly when Seb hadn’t stopped and I was making sure he didn’t build a big enough gap to get in and out of the pits ahead of me. And then it starts to rain. I can see the film on the tyres and I’m saying, ‘It’s just drizzle. Stay calm.” Said Webber.
“But that’s a very nasty sting in the tail. The guys that are second [Nico Rosberg – Mercedes] and third [Alonso – Ferrari]; they want it to rain. There’s one guy who doesn’t want it to rain – that’s me. I’m the first to arrive at the corners and discover the changing grip levels. It hadn’t rained all week and you just never knew what to expect on the streets. I was very, very relieved when that was all over.” Recalled Webber.
Car: Red Bull RB8
Started: 1st
Result: 1st
For the first time in his career, Webber took the lead of the Formula One world championship after starting from pole position and dominating every lap. “I had to stay focused all the way because this was one of those days where the pitboard just keeps going the right way. I was thinking, ‘Where are they all? Brilliant!’ That was a beautiful feeling. But, of course, it’s a long day out there and Jenson [winner in 2009] had been playing a few mind games beforehand, saying things like, ‘Late in the race, the barriers will move. They’ll move! They start closing in on you’ and all sorts of bullshit like that.” Said Webber.
“From the start, I’d said to myself, ‘Get your head down at Ste Devote [the first corner] and buckle into the first few laps. The most important thing then is just the next corner, just next corner, then the next corner, and the next corner. Stay super-present. Winning at Monaco: that was a very, very special day.” The Australian expressed.
Car: Red Bull RB6
Started: 1st
Result: 1st
Prior to round 10 of the 2010 season, Red Bull’s first championship appeared to be slipping away as McLaren-Mercedes and their drivers held the lead in both championships. When Webber was forced to give Vettel his damaged nose wing for qualifying at Silverstone after running a revised version during practice, the tension rose dramatically. Webber’s famous quote, “Not bad for a number two driver,” was prompted by the anticipated first-lap conflict that occurred after Vettel won pole position with the Australian driver alongside him. With everyone else more than 20 seconds behind Webber, Hamilton’s McLaren was defeated by his team by 1.4 seconds after Webber backed off in the final laps. Vettel came in seventh.
Car: Red Bull RB6
Started: 2nd
Result: 1st
The emotional outburst when Webber won his first Grand Prix was loud and prolonged. Webber’s primal yell and unceasing repetition of “Yes! Yes! Yes!” was charged by the liberation of a self-belief that had been frequently snarled in frustration over the course of 130 attempts. He did this while flailing his right arm about and pressing the radio button with his left thumb.
Typically, this victory had not been straightforward because Webber’s first pole position had been impaired by a drive through penalty after a first-corner wheel-to-wheel collision with Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn. When Australia’s first GP winner in 28 years was announced at the checkered flag, the head-down reaction and string of quick laps added to the unbridled joy.
“The first win was obviously a huge milestone,” reflects Webber. “I believed I had been ready for it earlier in my career but, for lots of different reasons, that didn’t happen. So, the pressure valve just blew wide open!” Webber expressed.
Car: Red Bull RB5
Started: 1st
Result: 1st
