|
Mark Webber began his racing career in karts, and became the New South Wales state champion in 1992. He made his Formula Ford debut in 1994, and won the Formula Ford Festival two years later.
Mark graduated to F3 with Alan Docking Racing for the 1997 season, and went on to claim five podiums as well as a Brands Hatch victory.
He was signed as official Mercedes works junior driver for 1998, and went on to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1999.
Mark's first taste of Formula One came in 1999 when he carried out a two-day test for Arrows at the end of the year. Having signed as the Leafield team's official test driver for the following season, Mark was disappointed when contract problems prevented him from getting back behind the wheel. Despite this, he came third in the F3000 championship driving for Eurobet Arrows, and went on to complete a test for Benetton who were quick to sign him up for 2001.
Mark remained in F3000 for 2001, and continued as Benetton test driver, unfortunately he was dropped by the team in favour of Fernando Alonso for 2002, before being signed to race alongside Alex Yoong for Minardi.
Mark. Minardi, and probably most of Australia will never forget the afternoon of March 3 2002. Against all the odds the Australian took the under-powered, under-financed Minardi-Asiatech and finished fifth in his maiden GP, narrowly pipped to fourth by Jaguar star Eddie Irvine.
So what if Coulthard, Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher had fallen by the wayside, all the Australians cared about was that one of their own had finished fifth in his home GP, and in a bloody Minardi!
Following the Melbourne madness it was back to earth with a bump, literally because a few races later both Minardis were withdrawn from the Spanish GP due to front wing failure.
Lack of money meant virtually no testing, other than promotional outings in the Minardi two-seaters, while Asiatech which was having problems of its own made little progress with the V10.
Late in the summer however came the news that Niki Lauda had signed Mark, along with Brazilian hot-shot Antonio Pizzonia to spearhead Jaguar's challenge in 2003.
Sadly Mark was unable to repeat his 2002 feat when he returned to Australia in 2003, however right from the outset it was clear that Webber was going to be on to watch.
Poor reliability meant that Mark didn't score his first points until Spain, though by that time his pace was clear and had indeed led to Jaguar making its dissatisfaction with team-mate Antonio Pizzonia public, the Brazilian having been regularly out-performed by the Australian.
Seven points finishes meant that Mark finished tenth in the Drivers' Championship, and contributed all but one of the points that led to his team finishing seventh in the Constructors' Championship, one of its best results to date.
In early-summer Jaguar announced it had signed a new deal with Mark keeping the Australian until the end of 2005, however it's clear that several team already have their eye on him. When Montoya was linked with a short-notice move to McLaren for 2004, there was widespread conjecture that Webber would be the obvious replacement at WilliamsF1, such is the regard in which the Aussie is held.
The most striking thing about Webber in 2003 was his pace and consistency, it was merely the shortcomings of the Jaguar package that prevented him achieving more.
Sadly the 2004 car was little better, but from quite early on in the season it was clear that Mark wouldn't have to suffer the frustration for much longer, since he was being linked with a move to WilliamsF1. In mid-July one of the pitlane's worst kept secrets was out, when the Australian signed a deal with the Grove outfit for "2005 and beyond".
The team is also known to have made a bid for Giancarlo Fisichella, which came to nought, while the tug-of-war with BAR over Jenson Button is well documented. That said, Webber has many of the characteristics that Frank Williams finds attractive, strength of character, loyalty, team spirit and speed.
Despite the inherent problems at Jaguar, Mark continued to give 100% and did his best to build the team, taking his cue from the driver he most admires in F1, Michael Schumacher.
In spite of the car's limitations, there were some great moments, most notably qualifying second in Malaysia and third in Japan.
Seven world championship points doesn't go anywhere near telling the true story, for Webber continually impressed, however as the season progressed the Cosworth became less and less competitive.
Once Ford announced that it was pulling out of F1, and the future of Jaguar, and its workforce, hung in the balance, Mark actually moved up a gear, and became a source of inspiration for all those around him.
Only Mark will really know, ignoring the performance of the FW27, whether 2005 lived up to expectations.
Being his first season in a (relatively) front-line team, all eyes were on the Australian, just as they were on his teammate, Nick Heidfeld, who was also experiencing his first season with a potential race winner.
With the BMW/WilliamsF1 marriage reaching the end of the road, and the German manufacturer, once it had made the decision to jump ship, clearly failing to maintain development, the season was never going to be easy.
However, as far as Webber is concerned, the Australian doesn't appear to have made things easy for himself. As ever, his qualifying performances were superb, he is one of the few drivers who really revels in the 'hot lap' format. Unfortunately, his outstanding qualifying performances were rarely converted into decent race finishes.
For Webber, the 2005 season could be summed up in one word, 'frustration'. Be it problems with the car or problems with his own performance, the frustration was always evident, and often resulted in the former Jaguar star over-driving.
In Heidfeld - possibly for the first time - he was under pressure from a teammate determined to prove himself, and this too added to the Australian's frustration. The drive in Monaco was superb, but even then Mark's performance was over-shadowed by that of his German teammate. Then there was the Nurburgring, where, in spite of a heavy fuel load, Webber qualified third… only to throw it all away at the first corner.
Whether it was as a result of the frustration or not, we don't know, however, during 2005 we heard talk, from reliable sources within the team, that the Australian's attitude had deteriorated, with some team members losing patience and referring to him as a Prima Donna. How different from the Jaguar days.
In 2006, Webber was retained by WilliamsF1, which, following the 'divorce' from BMW, had a one-year deal with Cosworth, pending a rumoured partnership with Toyota in 2007.
Much was expected of the package, especially with Alexander Wurz - a shock defection from McLaren - joining the Grove outfit as test driver.
However, if Mark thought 2005 was frustrating he was in for further misery in 2006.
If there was one thing one could guarantee regarding the FW28-Cosworth package it was the undoubted reliability of the engine. However, even this had its moments during a season in which the Grove team suffered the worst reliability of all eleven teams, one of the worst seasons in its illustrious history.
Engine, hydraulics, exhaust, transmission, electrics, water leak, driveshaft, tyres… you name it, it went wrong. Even when Mark seemed certain of third place in Monaco, an exhaust collector cracked causing hot gas to damage his electrics. While in Turkey, where both cars were running on heavy fuel, and running fourth and sixth, a safety car period robbed Mark and his teammate of any advantage.
Lack of pace, poor reliability, the switch to Bridgestones and sheer bad luck - the two Williams colliding on the first lap of the season opener was a portent of things to come - all conspired to make it a season to forget for the Australian.
There were some typically heroic qualifying performances from Mark, but sadly he was rarely in a position to convert these into results. Seven retirements, including hydraulics, transmission, engine and tyre troubles sum up the Australian's season, a genuine Annus Horribilis.
In August clearly despairing as to how things were going, Webber announced that he was joining David Coulthard at Red Bull for the following year, thereby giving the 'youth focussed' team one of the oldest line-ups on the 2007 grid.
Mark saw out the season with Williams, making the best of a bad situation, eagerly looking forward to the new season and (hopefully) a new beginning, with an Adrian Newey chassis, married to a World Championship winning Renault engine... surely things could only get better.
Well as we know they didn't. For in much the same way that Mark's 2006 season was blighted by poor reliability, so too was 2007, albeit with a different team.
Following a string of retirements, two down to the Red Bull's transmission and one to 'hydraulics', Mark had to wait until the seventh race of the season before he picked up his first points of the year. There was a podium finish in Germany, but even Mark would be the first to admit that this one of those strange results thrown up by freaky conditions.
From seventeen starts, Mark suffered six failures and one accident - that being the controversial incident involving Sebastian Vettel, but which was subsequently found to be Lewis Hamilton's fault.
The hapless Australian must surely have wondered what he'd done to deserve such bad luck, especially as Williams appeared to have sorted (most of) their problems.
Nonetheless, despite the trials and tribulations, the Aussie gave a good account of himself, particularly in qualifying. All too often he made it through to the final phase only to see his hard work come to nought when his car failed in the race.
Despite speculation that he, or teammate David Coulthard, might be dropped should Dietrich Mateschitz persuade Fernando Alonso to join the Milton Keynes outfit, Mark is retained for 2008, his seventh season in F1.
The Australian really needs a car in 2008 in which he can prove himself, for other than the fact that he has little to show from over a hundred Grands Prix, there is the fact that there are a lot of talented hot shots coming up through the ranks and sooner or later someone at Red Bull is going to wonder why such a 'yoof orientated' team has the oldest driver pairing in F1.
Statistics - Prior to 2008 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 6
Grand Prix: 103
Wins: 0
Points: 79
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
Best result in 2007: 3rd (Europe)
Best qualifying 2007: 5th (Brazil)
Worst qualifying 2007: 19th (Spain)
Average grid position 2007: 9.18
2007: Out-qualified David Coulthard 15 times
2006: Out-qualified by David Coulthard 2 times
2007: Completed 749 out of 1065 laps (70.33%)
2007: Finished 10 times from 17 starts (59%)
|
