|
For such a dedicated sports fanatic, Mark Webber came into the world of motor racing relatively late - aged 14. He first competed on motorbikes, but after trying his hand at karting - and notching up several state titles in his native New South Wales - the young Australian decided to stick with four wheels over two.
He moved into the Australian Formula Ford championship in 1994 and finished 14th. His first victories came the following year and included a memorable win in the support race for the Australian Grand Prix. Then came a startling international debut, Webber taking third place at the 1995 Formula Ford Festival in the UK.
That Brands Hatch outing helped him score a Van Diemen drive in the 1996 British Formula Ford championship. He made the most of the opportunity, winning four races on his way to the series’ runner-up slot. He also returned to Brands Hatch for the ’96 Festival, this time emerging victorious.
Stepping up to British Formula Three in 1997, Webber took fourth place in the championship with compatriot Alan Docking’s team. He added a third place in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort and a fourth in the Macau Grand Prix - successes that attracted the attentions of the Mercedes AMG sportscar squad, who signed him up for the 1998 FIA GT championship. Teamed with reigning world champion Bernd Schneider, Webber took five wins and only narrowly missed out on the title.
Retained by AMG for the reduced 1999 series, Webber was part of the team’s doomed assault on that year’s Le Mans 24-hour race. Twice he survived unscathed after his Mercedes famously flipped at high speed, ultimately forcing AMG to withdraw from the event, and the season, prompting Webber to abandon his sportscar career and return his focus to single-seaters. Eddie Jordan introduced him to entrepreneur and fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, who was putting together a new Formula 3000 squad. After an impressive test outing Stoddart swiftly signed Webber to race in 2000.
A win, three podiums and third in the championship were the result, proving Webber hadn’t lost his single-seater touch, and Stoddart’s affiliation with Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw also helped land him his first Formula One tests. Then Flavio Briatore and Benetton came calling and contracted Webber as test and reserve driver for 2001. As part of the deal, he continued competing in F3000 for the Super Nova squad. With his attentions increasingly on his F1 commitments, he finished second in the title race to Britain’s Justin Wilson, but more importantly secured a 2002 race seat with Minardi, now led by Stoddart.
A fifth-place finish in front of his home crowd on his Grand Prix debut was more than Webber, or indeed Minardi, could have hoped for. But it was no fluke and over the rest of the season he continued to surpass expectations, consistently out-qualifying team mate Alex Yoong, and racing much higher up the field than many thought his car should allow.
He progressed to Jaguar in 2003 where he continued to show the qualifying flair that was fast becoming a trademark - although the car was not overly competitive in race trim, Webber regularly pushed it to a top-ten grid slot, qualifying an amazing third in both Brazil and Hungary. He also won 17 of Jaguar’s 18 points that season and many were left wondering what the Australian could achieve with a top drive. However, sticking with the Ford-owned team for 2004, Webber was left frustrated by a downturn in their fortunes. Despite qualifying in the top six on three occasions, he scored just seven points all year and announced he would drive for Williams in 2005.
On paper the move should have been for the better, but Williams, one of the midfield’s leading lights in 2004, hit a dead-end. Webber’s qualifying form remained as strong as ever, but 36 points and in tenth in the championship fell far short of his expectations. A second year with the British squad in ’06 proved equally thankless and will be remembered as much for Webber’s 11 retirements and his meagre seven-point tally as for his spectacular front-row grid slot in Monaco.
Calling time on his Williams’ career, Webber headed to Red Bull for the 2007 season. With Renault power and Adrian Newey design, the team’s RB3 machine undoubtedly had potential, but its poor reliability meant Webber's regular top-ten qualifying performances rarely translated into points. The most notable exception was a deserved third place at the Nurburgring. Race pace was more the problem in 2008, when a fourth in Monaco was his best outing. His speed over a single lap remained unquestionable, however, as proven by his P2 grid slot at Silverstone - Red Bull’s first-ever front-row start.
|
