Mark Webber

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Mark Webber
Webber at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix
Nationality	Australian
Car #	10
Current team	Red Bull Racing
Formula One World Championship career
Races	112 (110 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	2
Pole positions	0
Career points	94
Fastest laps	0
First race	2002 Australian Grand Prix
Latest race	2008 Canadian Grand Prix
2007 position	12th (10 pts)

Mark Alan Webber, (born August 27, 1976) is an Australian Formula One driver. He was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, son of Alan, a local motorcycle dealer. He is the first Australian to race in Formula One since David Brabham in 1994.

After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the UK in 1995 to further his motorsports career. He continued to win, although he gained his biggest headlines while driving for the Mercedes-Benz sports car squad at Le Mans in 1999 where he had two spectacular accidents during practice and warmup in which an aerodynamic fault caused the car to somersault off the Mulsanne straight. After Mercedes' withdrawal from the race, Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team.

Webber made his debut in Formula One in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. After an impressive first season, Jaguar Racing took him on as lead driver. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team Webber several times qualified on the front two rows of the grid and outperformed his team mates. He joined the former championship winning Williams team in 2005, for whom he achieved his best finish in Formula One to date; a third place at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix. He has since equalled his third placing at the 2007 European Grand Prix.

Webber is a keen sportsman away from the track. He has won the annual F1 Pro-Am tennis tournament in Barcelona three times and has recently set up the 'Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge' trek across Tasmania to raise funds for cancer charities.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Formula One career 2.1 2002 2.2 2003 2.3 2004 2.4 2005 2.5 2006 2.6 2007 2.7 2008 3 Racing record 3.1 Career summary 3.2 Complete Formula One results 4 Outside motorsport 4.1 Charity Challenge 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early career

Mark Webber was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, son of Alan, the local motorcycle dealer. He started his relationship with sport young, working as a ball-boy for premiership winning rugby league team the Canberra Raiders during the late 1980s. However, motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champion Alain Prost and Grand Prix motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz as his childhood heroes. Starting out racing motorcycles, Webber moved to four wheels in 1991, taking up karting at the age of 14. He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993, and moved straight into the Australian Formula Ford Championship after his father bought him an ex-Craig Lowndes Van Diemen FF1600. Working as a driving instructor at Sydney's Oran Park Raceway between races, Webber finished 14th overall in his debut season. Continuing in the series in 1995, Webber scored several victories, including a win in the support race for the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide. He finished the series in fourth place, but perhaps more importantly, teamed up with Championship co-ordinator Ann Neal, who secured him a seven-year sponsorship with Australian Yellow Pages, and would become his manager and accompany him on a trip to England in an attempt to start a career in Europe.

Webber was given a test at Snetterton with the Van Diemen team, and subsequently earned a works drive for the team at the 1995 Formula Ford Festival, held at Brands Hatch. He finished third in his first international race, a result good enough to see him retained by the team for the 1996 Championship. Before moving to Europe permanently, Webber won the Formula Holden race at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. During the 1996 British Formula Ford Championship, Webber took four victories on his way to second place overall, finishing his season strongly with a win in the Formula Ford Festival. He also won the Spa-Francorchamps race of the Formula Ford Euro Cup, taking third in the series despite competing in only two of the three rounds. His results throughout the year saw him voted as Australian motorsport's "Young Achiever" and "International Achiever" of 1996. Two days after his Festival victory, Webber completed a successful test for Alan Docking Racing, and was signed by the team to graduate to Formula Three in 1997.

Without the financial backing he had enjoyed during his time in Formula Ford, Webber and his team struggled to find the money to fund their championship campaign. He was almost forced to quit halfway through the season, but was able to obtain personal support from Australian rugby union legend David Campese, which helped him to complete the year. Webber took victory in just his fourth ever F3 race, at Brands Hatch, leading from start to finish and setting a new lap record in the process. He took a further four podium finishes, including a second place in the support race for the 1997 British Grand Prix, and finished the season in fourth overall. Webber also took strong finishes in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort (3rd) and the F3 Macao Grand Prix (4th), both times making his circuit debut. During the 1997 season, Webber was approached by Mercedes-AMG to participate in a sports car race. He initially declined the offer, but at the end of the year he was invited to participate in a test session for the team at A1-Ring in Austria. AMG were suitably impressed with Webber, and he was signed as the official Mercedes works junior driver for the 1998 FIA GT Championship, alongside reigning champion Bernd Schneider. Travelling around the world, including the United States, Japan and Europe, the pair won five of the ten rounds on their way to second in the overall standings, remarkably beaten to the Championship by teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta by just 8 seconds in the final race at Laguna Seca.

Webber remained with the AMG team for 1999, and was promoted to his own race car for the season. However, his sportscar career came to an early end after he flipped twice on the straight in the lead up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans race that year. An aerodynamic fault on the team's Mercedes-Benz CLRs caused Webber to spectacularly become airborne during both practice and race-day warm up, with the same fate befalling teammate Peter Dumbreck five hours into the race. Both drivers escaped uninjured, but the crashes forced Mercedes to shelve their sportscar program for the year and Webber to reconsider a return to open wheel racing.^[1] Webber spoke to Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan, who introduced him to fellow Australian Paul Stoddart. Stoddart offered to undercut the necessary $1.1 million budget for Webber, and gave him a drive in his Eurobet Arrows Formula 3000 team for 2000. As a result, Webber also got his first taste of a Formula One car, completing a two-day test at Barcelona in December 1999 for the Arrows F1 team.

Webber was signed as test driver for the Arrows F1 team for 2000, and also gained sponsorship from Australian beer company Foster's whilst competing in the F3000 Championship.^[2] Webber took victory in round two of the season at Silverstone Circuit, and finished the series with two fastest laps and three podiums on his way to third overall - the highest position of any rookie that year.^[3] Contract issues meant that Webber was never able to drive the Arrows A21 car, and rejected an offer of a full contract for 2001 in July. However, he was offered a three day evaluation test for Benetton at the end of the year, outpacing F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella at Estoril. The results were good enough to earn him the test driver role with the team for 2001, and he also agreed to take on team boss Flavio Briatore as manager in return for finance for a further F3000 season. Webber joined the championship-winning Super Nova Racing team, and despite winning at Imola, Monaco and Magny-Cours, he finished second overall to British driver Justin Wilson.^[4] Webber was replaced as test driver for Benetton for 2002 by Fernando Alonso, but Briatore managed to secure Webber a contract to race alongside Alex Yoong in the Stoddart-owned Minardi team, making him the first Australian in Formula One since David Brabham in 1994.

[edit] Formula One career

[edit] 2002

Webber made his Formula One debut at his home race, the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. He qualified 18th of the 22 cars, over 4 seconds away from the pole position time, but 1.4 seconds ahead of teammate Yoong.^[5] The start of the race featured a spectacular accident between Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, the aftermath of which forced 8 cars to retire from the race. Webber, who had a problem with his launch control at the start, battled with a broken differential to fend off the experienced Mika Salo and finish fifth.^[6] The result made Webber just the fourth Australian F1 driver to score World Championship points, and the first Minardi driver to score points since Marc Gené in 1999.^[7] Webber was forced into retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix, before picking up consecutive 11th-place finishes in the following two races. He, along with Yoong, was forced to pull out of the Spanish Grand Prix due to potentially dangerous wing failures during the weekend.^[8] Webber picked up two more 11th place finishes, but was unable to score points for the remainder of the year, his next best result coming in the French Grand Prix, where he finished 8th. In the Hungarian Grand Prix, Webber lost two kilograms in weight over the length of the race as he was forced to drive without a drink after his water bottle broke.^[9] Webber was able to outqualify Yoong (and Anthony Davidson, who replaced Yoong for the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix) in every race, and his two points in Australia were the only points that Minardi scored all season, helping them to 9th in the Constructors' Championship, ahead of Toyota and Arrows.^[10] Webber's results earned him the "Rookie of the Year" award in F1 Racing magazine's annual Man of the Year awards (receiving 53.70% of public votes),^[11] the Autosport.com "Rookie of the Year" award and "F1 Newcomer of the Year" at the annual Grand Prix Party "Bernie" Awards.^[12] In light of his season, notable Formula One journalist Peter Windsor related Webber to 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell, saying they had similar amounts of "raw talent".^[13] In November 2002, it was announced that Webber would join Jaguar Racing for the following season, alongside Brazilian Williams test driver Antônio Pizzonia.^[14]

[edit] 2003

Webber's Jaguar career started disappointingly, as he qualified in 14th place for the 2003 Australian Grand Prix before being forced to retire on lap 15 with a rear suspension failure. The following race in Malaysia was even more dramatic for Webber, as Giancarlo Fisichella began reversing towards him on the starting grid, before Webber's in-car fire extinguisher discharged into his face and he was eventually forced to retire from 8th with an oil consumption problem.^[15] Webber took a remarkable provisional pole position in Friday qualifying of the Brazilian Grand Prix, outqualifying local driver Rubens Barrichello by 0.138 seconds in a rain-affected session.^[16] He continued his good performance in the Saturday session, taking a career-best 3rd on the grid, a result which was also Jaguar Racing's best qualifying performance in their four-year Formula 1 history.^[17] In the race, which was hit heavily by rain, Webber was sitting in seventh place when he attempted to cool his tyres by driving through a puddle lying off-line in the final corner.^[18] The resultant lack of grip caused Webber to crash heavily into the pit straight tyre barriers, leaving debris on the track which caused a second major crash. The race was subsequently red-flagged, and although Webber was originally classified in 7th, an FIA investigation found a timekeeping error, and Webber was placed 9th in the re-classification.^[19] Webber's good qualifying form continued into the San Marino Grand Prix, but he dropped from 5th to 11th by the first corner due to a launch control failure that affected both Jaguars,^[20] and he retired from the race after 54 laps with a driveshaft failure, his fourth consecutive non-finish for the year. His luck improved in the following races though, taking his first points in Spain and signing a new 2-year contract with the team reportedly worth $US6 million per season.^[21][22] He then went on to score points in five of the next six races on his way to moving into the top 10 in the World Drivers' Championship,^[23] the run of results interrupted only by an engine failure in Monaco. One of his best races came in Austria, where despite starting from the pitlane and suffering a drive-through penalty,^[24] he set the race's third fastest lap (behind only the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello), and finished in 7th.^[25]

At the British Grand Prix, on the 11th lap, as the procession of cars exited the Becketts corner onto the Hangar straight, now-defrocked priest Neil Horan cleared the fence wearing a kilt, waving banners with statements "Read the bible" and "The Bible is always right"^[26] and ran towards the sequence of cars, forcing several cars to swerve to avoid him. Webber came closest to hitting Horan, in a terrifying parallel to the accident at the 1977 South African Grand Prix in which driver Tom Pryce was killed after hitting a track worker. The safety car was deployed to remove Horan from the track, and Webber evenutally finished 14th.

Post Silverstone, Webber had scored 12 Championship points compared to Pizzonia's 0, and after much speculation it was announced that Minardi driver Justin Wilson would replace the Brazilian for the remainder of the year. The German Grand Prix saw Webber's sixth retirement for the season, after he made a desperate last lap lunge on Jenson Button in an attempt to salvage a point from the weekend.^[27] Consecutive points finishes in Hungary and Italy saw Webber climb to ninth in the drivers' standings, with a 5 point margin to Button. He was unable to hold onto his position however, as one too many laps on dry tyres saw him spin out from the lead of the United States Grand Prix, and a disappointing 11th-place result in the Japanese Grand Prix meant he finished on equal points with Button, but lost out on a countback.^[28] Although Wilson scored a point in the United States Grand Prix, Webber had still never been outqualified by a teammate, and late in the year, Jaguar announced that rookie Christian Klien would team up with Webber for the 2004 season. Webber's results again earned him plaudits in the press, winning the 2003 "Driver of the Year" award from Autocar magazine.^[29]

[edit] 2004

Continuing with Jaguar in 2004, Webber qualified sixth fastest for the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, but faced his second consecutive retirement from his home race, this time due to a gearbox failure. The following race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, Webber produced the best qualifying performance of his career, splitting the dominant Ferraris to line up 2nd on the grid. The race was disappointing though, a stall at the start meaning he was well outside the top 10 by the time the cars reached turn 1. An aggressive lap saw him move up to ninth place, but during an exciting battle with Ralf Schumacher, the German collided with him and forced Webber to pit with damage to his front wing and tyre. In his desperation to make up for the lost time, Webber exceeded the pitlane speed limit and was handed a drive-through penalty, which left him even further behind. More frustration eventually led to the end of his race, as he spun into the gravel trap on the outside of the final corner on lap 23. The situation improved for the following race in Bahrain though, as Webber picked up his first point for the season despite a small mistake in qualifying which left him in 14th and marked the first time he had been outqualified by his teammate in F1.^[30] He was unable to continue his pointscoring form, however, as intermittent electrical problems in San Marino and a lack of grip in Spain meant that he could do no better than 13th and 12th in those races.

Amid Jaguar's announcements of special one-race sponsorship deals with movie Ocean's Twelve and diamond company Steinmetz Group, Webber suffered two engine failures in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, the first of which forced Webber to extinguish it himself after being unable to find a trackside marshall willing to help.^[31] In the race itself, Webber was forced to retire due to a loss of engine power, but he was able to pick up two Championship points in the following race with a seventh place finish in the European Grand Prix. Webber lined up 14th on the grid after being handed a one-second penalty for yellow flag infringements during Friday practice,^[32] but was able to move through the field to take his points tally to 3. After the race he was criticised by Michael Schumacher for refusing to yield after Webber emerged from his pit stop slightly ahead of (but one lap behind) Schumacher,^[33] although after hearing the comments, Webber said he "would do exactly the same again" in the same situation.^[34]

Consecutive retirements in Canada (hit by Klien^[35]) and the United States (oil leak^[36]) and a 9th place finish in the French Grand Prix preceded a further point in the British Grand Prix, although his total of 4 points compared unfavourably to his 12 scored by the same time in the previous season. It was at this stage that former teammate Pizzonia returned to racing as a replacement for the injured Ralf Schumacher, and upon his return he accused Jaguar of favouritism towards Webber during their time as teammates, saying that Webber received new car parts one or two races before Pizzonia.^[37] The claims were categorically denied by Jaguar boss David Pitchforth,^[38] and whilst Webber did not publicly comment on the situation at the time, he picked up his best finish of the season by finishing sixth in the German Grand Prix, running ahead of Pizzonia for the entire race.^[39] Meanwhile, reports emerged that Jaguar could not guarantee that they would compete in Formula One for the 2005 season,^[40] and on July 28 it was announced that Webber would drive for WilliamsF1 for 2005 and beyond, later admitting this was the team that his "heart was always set on" throughout negotiations.^[41] Webber was unable to build on his points tally, however as a 10th place in Hungary, followed by a first-lap accident in Belgium, 9th in Italy and 10th in China saw him sitting 13th in the Championship. The penultimate race of the season in Japan saw Webber produce another good qualifying effort as he set the third fastest time, but his race ended prematurely as he suffered from a badly overheating cockpit, the cause of which could not be determined by Jaguar.^[42] The Brazilian Grand Prix marked Webber's last race for Jaguar, and Jaguar's last in Formula One, but it ended sadly for the team, as Klien turned in on and collided with Webber as the Australian attempted to make up for a pit stop delay earlier in the race. Webber was forced to retire due to the damage and watched the remainder of the race from the grass on the outside of turn 1 as Klien finished 14th.

Webber was granted an early release from his Jaguar contract to be allowed to test with his new team Williams over the winter. Williams had announced earlier that Jenson Button would drive for the team in 2005 alongside Webber, but after claims the Brit was still contracted to BAR, his contract with Williams was overturned. With his new teammate undecided, and apparently going down to a "shootout" between Nick Heidfeld and Pizzonia, Webber hit back at Pizzonia's claims of unfair treatment during 2003, claiming the Brazilian was lying and saying he was a "loser" for believing that there was favouritism towards Webber,^[43] comments which led to a reprimand from his new team.^[44]

[edit] 2005

Heidfeld was finally announced as Webber's 2005 teammate at the Williams season launch on January 31, with Webber admitting he was pleased with the eventual decision.^[45] Webber's move to Williams brought about comparisons to Alan Jones,^[46] Australia's last F1 World Champion (also in a Williams) and expectations were high as Webber's former team boss Paul Stoddart predicted Webber would take his first victory in 2005,^[47] while Williams technical director Sam Michael said Webber would eventually win the World Championship with Williams.^[48] In his first race for the team, the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, Webber took 3rd on the grid but was beaten to the first corner by David Coulthard and eventually finished fifth – still unable to improve on his best F1 finish. His best chance to do so though came in the following race in Malaysia. After qualifying fourth, Webber was running behind the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella, who was struggling due to a lack of downforce and tyre grip. As Webber closed in and attempted a pass around the outside of turn 15, Fisichella locked up his brakes and slid into the side of Webber's car, eliminating both drivers from the race. Fisichella was later reprimanded by race stewards because of the incident,^[49] but as Heidfeld took third in place of Webber, the weekend came to epitomise Webber's growing reputation as a fast qualifier who did not perform well under pressure in race situations.^[50] It was later revealed that Webber had competed in the first two races carrying a fractured rib, an injury he had sustained during pre-season testing at Barcelona, though he "didn't want to make a fuss" about it and would be fully fit in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix.^[51]

After qualifying fifth in Bahrain, a spin under pressure from Kimi Räikkönen whilst in third place saw Webber ultimately finish sixth,^[52] taking his points tally to 7 for the season. He followed this up by qualifying fourth and finishing a disappointing 10th after twice running wide off the track in the San Marino Grand Prix, although his position was revised to 7th after the disqualification of the BAR team and a penalty to Ralf Schumacher. The race was a poor one for Williams (Heidfeld was 9th before the reclassification), but Webber hit back at the Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying 2nd and finishing 6th – his fourth pointscoring finish in the first five races. The following race in Monaco saw Webber take the first podium finish of his career, with third. On the rostrum however, Webber looked noticeably disappointed with the result after losing second to teammate Heidfeld due to the Williams team pitting Heidfeld before Webber, which caused Webber to lose time behind the slow Alonso. Webber had run ahead of Heidfeld all race long and would have been second had the team pitted them in regular sequence.^[53] The best result of Webber's career was followed by one of his worst at the European Grand Prix. After qualifying third, Webber locked his brakes and had a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya in the very first corner of the race, forcing him to retire as Heidfeld went from pole position to take an impressive second-place finish, overtaking Webber in the Championship in the process.^[54] The following race in Canada was affected by this result, as Webber was only able to qualify 14th, but he was pleased with an eventual 5th-place finish and a further 4 Championship points.^[55] The United States Grand Prix (where only 6 cars took part) was the beginning of a lean streak for Webber, with just one pointscoring finish in the next seven races, a seventh in Hungary, but by this stage he had slipped from 6th to 10th in the World Championship. Webber had another poor race in Turkey, where he collided with Michael Schumacher, causing extensive damage to both cars.

With Heidfeld injured, Webber's former Jaguar teammate Antônio Pizzonia stepped into the second Williams seat, with added pressure on Webber to perform well given the public argument the pair had towards the end of 2004. The Italian Grand Prix saw Pizzonia gain the upper hand, driving to seventh whilst Webber was caught up in a first-corner incident which saw him finish 14th.^[56] The roles were reversed for the following race in Belgium, as Webber raced to fourth but Pizzonia retired after a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya in the closing laps. With rumours that Heidfeld had in fact signed with BMW Sauber for the 2006 season spreading,^[57] Pizzonia continued in the race seat, and in the Brazilian Grand Prix, was clipped by David Coulthard in turn one. The contact caused Pizzonia to spin into the path of Webber, forcing extensive repairs to the Australian's car.^[58] Webber eventually finished 17th and set the race's 8th fastest lap,^[59] but was not classified as a finisher. The final two races of the season saw Webber take 4th and 7th to consolidate his 10th place in the Drivers' Championship. Webber described the 2005 season as "frustrating" and acknowledged that his reputation had somewhat diminished,^[60] but he opted to stay on with Williams despite an offer from BMW Sauber.^[61] Webber's teammate for 2006 would be German Nico Rosberg, becoming the seventh different driver to partner Webber since 2002.

[edit] 2006

For the first time in Webber's career, the first race of the season was not held in Melbourne, and instead was in Bahrain. Webber qualified 7th and had a solid race to finish 6th and pick up 3 Championship points. Although Webber was considered by some to have the better race performance,^[62] this was generally overlooked for the fact that Rosberg set the fastest lap in his debut race and moved through the field well after a first-lap incident.^[63] The following two races, in Malaysia and Australia were cut short due to mechanical problems. In Malaysia, Webber started 4th on the grid and was still running in that position before a hydraulics failure ended his race on lap 14. In his home race, Webber qualified seventh and was leading the race (before his first pit stop) when his gearbox failed on lap 22.^[64] A sixth-place finish in San Marino saw Webber move up to 9th in the Championship, but in the European Grand Prix hydraulics failure struck again to end his race after he had fought up to 12th from 19th on the grid (due to a mid-weekend engine change).

The Spanish Grand Prix marked the first time Webber failed to make the top-10 cutoff in the new qualifying system, and he struggled during the race to eventually finish ninth. Monaco, however, saw a huge improvement, with Webber qualifying on the front row (after Michael Schumacher's grid penalty) and holding third for a large part of the race before retiring after his exhaust burned a wiring loom. The pace Webber showed displayed his talent when he has a good enough car, as aerodynamic efficiency is not as important at Monaco, and Webber's car was not as disadvantaged as at most other venues.^[65] In the 2006 British Grand Prix Webber crashed out on the first lap after an incident with Ralf Schumacher and Scott Speed. In France, Webber suffered a spectacular tyre blowout at maximum speed. He gathered it up & parked it in the garage. Germany was one of Webber's strongest races of the year. He was on target for a podium until Mechanical failure stopped him in his tracks with only 9 laps to go. The Hungarian Grand Prix was another retirement for Webber, as he slid into a barrier in the wet conditions and crushed his front wing under the chassis of the Williams.

[edit] 2007

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2007)

Webber's two-year contract with Williams finished at the end of 2006. The team, however, held an option on his services for 2007 which they choose not to take up on its original terms. Although Webber had expressed his desire to stay with the team, Williams offered Webber a considerably smaller salary than had been stipulated in the original contract for the option year. Under advice from his manager, Flavio Briatore, Webber then sought another drive. Williams quickly elected to promote current test driver Alexander Wurz to a race seat.^[66] Williams team boss Sir Frank Williams stated that he was reluctant to wait for Webber to commit to the team once the option for future years had expired, though he did not blame Webber for waiting to see if there was a seat available at another team.

After some speculation of Webber joining the Renault team, which is run by his manager Flavio Briatore, it was announced on August 7, 2006, that Webber would join Red Bull Racing for 2007 to partner David Coulthard, replacing former Jaguar Racing team mate Christian Klien.^[67] It is rumored that Flavio Briatore arranged an agreement with Red Bull that they will offer Webber a racing seat if Renault supplied the engines. On January 26, 2007 the new Red Bull RB3 challenger was unveiled in Spain, a car that has Mark Webber's hopes pinned upon it. Mark drove the car in a shakedown successfully at the Barcelona circuit on the same day. The car features heavy revisions to the team's previous cars, and looks very much like Adrian Newey's (RB3 designer) previous cars which have either won or come close to the World Title. The car is fitted with a Renault RS27 engine.

In the first race of the 2007 season, in Melbourne, Webber qualified an impressive 7th place and held that position for the early part of the race, managing to finish in 13th position after the RB3 suffered from a throttle-related malfunction and a jammed fuel flap.

In the Malaysian Grand Prix, he again out qualified experienced team mate David Coulthard, and finished tenth, encouraging for such a new and radical car for the team. Bahrain was also going well for both drivers, running sixth and seventh, until both cars retired due to mechanical malfunctions. Webber again was hampered by the aforementioned jammed fuel flap, radically affecting the aerodynamic drag, which is a vital set-up point for the Sakhir circuit.

The potential of both the car and Webber, who has certainly worked well this year to out-qualify his vastly more experienced team-mate, is high lighted by the closeness they are running to engine suppliers Renault, although the Newey-designed car has had flaws which have inadvertently led to Webber's scoreless season thus-far.

Though pace of the car seems to be picking up, with Coulthard qualifying in the top-10 for the Spanish Grand Prix, Webber was unable to convert his early weekend pace into a competitive grid position due to hydraulic problems. His race was much the same, with a similar hydraulic problem retiring him early in the race whilst team-mate Coulthard notched up the team's first points with a competitive drive to fifth.

Webber finally recorded the second podium of his career at the European Grand Prix, after qualifying in 6th position. A rain spiced race, and the retirement of Kimi Räikkönen who was running third at the time, allowed Webber to claim the final position on the podium. However, he almost lost it on the penultimate corner, barely holding off Alexander Wurz.

His best chance at winning a race occurred at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, where in the wet conditions Webber excelled, running competitively in 2nd place, and setting the 3rd fastest lap of the race only behind the 2 McLarens. Towards the end of the race, Webber was running 2nd behind Lewis Hamilton with no further pit stops to make until Sebastian Vettel, driver for sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, ran into the back of him under a safety car taking both cars out of the race. He had been lapping faster than Hamilton due to damage on the McLaren's sidepod from contact with Robert Kubica. Out of the current Formula One drivers, Mark has had the second highest number of starts without a win, and is often referred to as the "unluckiest man in modern Formula One", ^[68] a title reinforced in the same race as Webber started the race suffering from food poisoning and vomited inside his helmet during the first safety car period[1] When questioned by ITV's Louise Goodman about Vettel's driving and the race ending collision, Webber commented: "Well it's kids, isn't it. Kids with not enough experience, doing a good job then they fuck it all up."

Webber again looked strong at the final race of the season in Brazil, at Interlagos. Webber qualified fifth, in front of both BMW Saubers, and behind only the Ferraris and McLarens. Webber looked strong in the race, running as high as fourth, before yet another mechanical failure brought an end to an all round disappointing season for the Australian.

[edit] 2008

As per his contract, Webber started the year in Melbourne with Red Bull Racing. He shone all through practice in Melbourne, recording fifth in Friday Practice 1, second in Saturday Practice 2, sixth in Saturday Practice 1 and was going on to easily make the top ten in Saturday Qualifying. Unluckily, the front right brake disk in his car failed going into turn 6 during Q2 (Qualifying Session 2), plunging him into the sand trap - thus ending his qualifying session in Melbourne for 2008, ultimately qualifying 15th.

Although getting off to a reasonably good start to the race, he momentarily went off the track at turn 1 to avoid being involved in the contact that had already erupted. Webber made several positions by turn 3, but an incident involving himself, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson, he was slightly contacted by Davidson whilst trying to avoid the struggle between Kazuki and Anthony. This contact ended the race that was looking so promising for him.

Despite the retirement in Australia, the next 5 rounds saw a string of point scoring positions, including a 4th at Monaco in the wet, one of the few finishers not to have made a mistake and subsequent pit, however the performance was neglected in the shadow of Hamilton's win. The string of finishes let alone points finishes has indicated improved reliability for Red Bull, many have commended Webber's qualifying efforts only to drop a couple of places during the race as faster teams swamp the slower Red Bull. As of May 2008, Webber has made his best start to a F1 season since his 2005 season with Williams, currently in 7th in front of Renault's Alonso, equal on points with McLaren's Kovalainen. Webber is currently one of only 4 drivers in the field to have had point finishes in 5 of the seasons 7 races thus far; the others being Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen and Robert Kubica, who sit 2nd, 3rd and 1st in the championship respectively.

[edit] Racing record

[edit] Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
1994	Australian Formula Ford	?	16	0	0	30	13th
1995	Australian Formula Ford	?	16	3	3	158	4th
	Australian Formula Holden	Birranna Racing	2	0	0	32	8th
	Formula Ford Festival	?	1	0	0	N/A	3rd
1996	European Formula Ford	?	?	?	?	?	3rd
	British Formula Ford	?	?	?	?	113	2nd
	Formula Ford Festival	?	1	0	1	N/A	1st
	Australian Formula Holden	Birranna Racing	2	0	1	20	10th
1997	British Formula Three	Alan Docking Racing	16	3	1	131	4th
	Macau Grand Prix	Alan Docking Racing	1	0	0	N/A	4th
	Masters of Formula Three	?	1	0	0	N/A	3rd
1998	FIA GT Championship	AMG Mercedes (GT1)	10	0	5	69	3rd
	Le Mans 24 Hours	AMG Mercedes (GT1)	1	1	0	N/A	NC
1999	Le Mans 24 Hours	AMG Mercedes (GTP)	1	0	0	N/A	DNS
2000	International Formula 3000	European Arrows	10	0	1	21	3rd
2001	International Formula 3000	Super Nova Racing	12	2	3	39	2nd
2002	Formula One	Minardi	17	0	0	2	16th
2003	Formula One	Jaguar	16	0	0	17	10th
2004	Formula One	Jaguar	18	0	0	7	13th
2005	Formula One	Williams	19	0	0	36	10th
2006	Formula One	Williams	18	0	0	7	14th
2007	Formula One	Red Bull	17	0	0	10	12th
2008	Formula One	Red Bull	7	0	0	15	7th*

* Season in progress

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2002	KL Minardi Asiatech	Minardi PS02	Asiatech AT02 3.0 V10	AUS 5	MAL Ret	BRA 11	SMR 11	ESP DNS	AUT 12	MON 11	CAN 11	EUR 15	GBR Ret	FRA 8	GER Ret	HUN 16	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret	JPN 10			16th	2
2003	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R4	Cosworth CR-5 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	BRA 9	SMR Ret	ESP 7	AUT 7	MON Ret	CAN 7	EUR 6	FRA 6	GBR 14	GER 11	HUN 6	ITA 7	USA Ret	JPN 11				10th	17
2004	Jaguar Racing	Jaguar R5	Cosworth CR-6 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	BHR 8	SMR 13	ESP 12	MON Ret	EUR 7	CAN Ret	USA Ret	FRA 9	GBR 8	GER 6	HUN 10	BEL Ret	ITA 9	CHN 10	JPN Ret	BRA Ret		13th	7
2005	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW27	BMW P84/5 3.0 V10	AUS 5	MAL Ret	BHR 6	SMR 7	ESP 6	MON 3	EUR Ret	CAN 5	USA DNS	FRA 12	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN 7	TUR Ret	ITA 14	BEL 4	BRA Ret	JPN 4	CHN 7	10th	36
2006	WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW28	Cosworth CA2006 2.4 V8 4 Series	BHR 6	MAL Ret	AUS Ret	SMR 6	EUR Ret	ESP 9	MON Ret	GBR Ret	CAN 12	USA Ret	FRA Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	TUR 10	ITA 10	CHN 8	JPN Ret	BRA Ret		14th	7
2007	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull RB3	Renault RS27 2.4 V8	AUS 13	MAL 10	BHR Ret	ESP Ret	MON Ret	CAN 9	USA 7	FRA 12	GBR Ret	EUR 3	HUN 9	TUR Ret	ITA 9	BEL 7	JPN Ret	CHN 10	BRA Ret			12th	10
2008	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull RB4	Renault RS27 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL 7	BHR 7	ESP 5	TUR 7	MON 4	CAN 12	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	CHN	JPN	BRA		7th*	15*

* Season in progress

[edit] Outside motorsport

Webber lives in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England with his girlfriend/manager Ann Neal.^[69] Outside motorsport, Webber enjoys "most outdoor pursuits" including road cycling, mountain biking, tennis and fitness training. He has won the annual F1 Pro-Am tennis tournament in Barcelona three times (2002, 2004 and 2005), coming runner-up to Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003.^[70][71] Webber is also a soccer fan, supporting English Premier League club Sunderland AFC.^[72]. His favourite bands are Oasis and INXS.

[edit] Charity Challenge

In November 2003, Webber set up and competed in a 10-day trek across Tasmania in an attempt to raise funds for children's cancer research charities. Starting in Marrawah on the state's west coast, the trek involved 1,000 km of cycling, kayaking and trekking along the southern coast and finished at Coles Bay in the east. Four teams of four competitors each started the trek, with only two teams (including Webber's) completing the entire journey.^[73] Along the way, Australian sporting stars Pat Rafter, Steve Waugh, Cathy Freeman, James Tomkins, Guy Andrews and actor Joel Edgerton completed certain parts of the trek. The challenge concluded with a black tie dinner and auction to raise funds. Webber said he was driven to organise the event after the death of his grandfather to cancer, as well as his experiences with friends whose children had battled the disease.^[74]

With Webber's switch from Jaguar to Williams at the end of 2004, the challenge was postponed until 2006, when he was able to secure a three-year deal with the Tasmanian Government to hold the event.^[75] The 2006 event (now named the "Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge") was held over six days and covered nearly 600 km. Twelve teams competed.Webber’s challenge raised A$500,000 for children’s charities.

The 2007 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge was launched at the formula one Grand Prix (2007) in Melbourne when Tasmanian aficionado Webber was joined by sports stars and Kylie Minogue, and Hollywood star Anthony Edwards (Top Gun, ER).

The 2007 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge (MWPTC) will be another gruelling physical and mental adventure race about Tasmania in aid of charity but albeit with a new format.

Teams will compete for honours in two unique categories: the Van Diemen Cup – designed exclusively for corporate teams of four people, and the 2theXtreme Cup – a two person elite team entry. Both categories will trek, kayak and cycle alongside each other as they cover approximately 450km through World Heritage wilderness and along the idyllic coast of Freycinet National Park.

The 2007 challenge will be held from 17-23 November. Although the exact course details aren’t being released until 24 hours before the start, it has been revealed that the race will begin in Cradle Mountain, where a ‘prologue’ will determine the running order for the following six days, and finish in Hobart. And for the first time, one of Webber's fellow F1 drivers, Heikki Kovalainen, will join him in the challenge.

Webber is Tasmania’s unofficial ambassador-at-large and wears ‘discovertasmania.com’ on the chin bar of his racing helmet.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Windsor, Peter. "The boy done good" F1 Racing (Australian edition) July 2003: pp. 36–47
• Mark Webber - About - History. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Mark Webber. pitpass. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Mark Webber. F1 Live. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Mark Webber. Crash.net. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Mark Webber. Planet-F1.com. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Drivers:Mark Webber. GrandPrix.com GP Encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Formula One Driver Profiles - Mark Webber. Sporting Life. Retrieved on February 7, 2006.
• Garton, Nick (2002). Webber's path to the top. Retrieved on February 8, 2006.
• Q&A: Mark Webber – Pt. 2 (2004). Retrieved on February 8, 2006.
• Jennings, Bob (2003). Making a Mark in the fast lane. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on February 8, 2006.
• Rowlinson, Anthony. "An awfully big adventure" F1 Racing (Australian edition) January 2004: pp. 94–102

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Mark Webber Supporters Club
• Mark Webb career details
• Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge
• Mark Webber's Formula 1 statistics
• Official Unofficial Mark Webber Supporters Forum
• The Mark Webber Blog

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kevin McGarrity	Formula Ford Festival Winner 1996	Succeeded by Jacky van der Ende
Awards
Preceded by Fernando Alonso	Lorenzo Bandini Trophy 2006	Succeeded by Felipe Massa

v • d • e Constructors and drivers competing in the 2008 Formula One championship Ferrari BMW Sauber Renault Williams Red Bull Toyota Toro Rosso Honda Force India McLaren 1 Räikkönen 2 Massa 3 Heidfeld 4 Kubica 5 Alonso 6 Piquet 7 Rosberg 8 Nakajima 9 Coulthard 10 Webber 11 Trulli 12 Glock 14 Bourdais 15 Vettel 16 Button 17 Barrichello 20 Sutil 21 Fisichella 22 Hamilton 23 Kovalainen Other participants in the 2008 season: Constructors: Super Aguri — Drivers: Sato · Davidson

v • d • e Red Bull Racing Personnel: Dietrich Mateschitz | Christian Horner | Adrian Newey | Geoff Willis Current drivers: David Coulthard | Mark Webber | Sébastien Buemi Formula One cars: RB1 | RB2 | RB3 | RB4

[[lt:Mark Webber]