Formula One – a look back at Mark Webber’s first thirteen races
The racer started off his racing career with Formula One in the year 2002, having a long struggling period with Minardi, Jaguar and latter with Williams, before he moved to Red Bull in 2007.
The Australian driver’s first season with the Austrian team was filled with ups and downs owing to their less competitive car and was only able to end his season at twelfth place in the championship of the season.
The next year with the same team, proved another tough season, as the racer fought for points rather than podiums and finally had the 2008 season finished at eleventh place.
However, last year moved the racer towards new horizons, as he was able to bag two race wins, one in Germany, achieving his maiden pole and victory and then later at Brazil, having the second race win of the season.
Now the 2010 season has raised the racer to new heights. He had been able to make his mark right from the start of the season, exhibiting great pace and form all through the thirteen races held so far. Currently, he stands as the toughest competitor of the season.
The first race of the season held at Bahrain gave him first four points, as he was only able to end the race day at eighth place after having it started from sixth on the grid. It was followed by another not so good race, despite having placed himself at second on the grid he was only able to end at ninth place at the Australian Grand Prix.
Stars started to shake off the dark shadows from the third race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix, where he secured pole position and was able to end the race Sunday at second returning home happily with a big bank of eighteen points.
The Chinese Grand Prix did not unwrap the way it was expected, as Webber was once again disappointed by having his race ended at eighth place, even though he struggled hard in qualifying and started the race from second place on the grid.
Rainbows, stars and jingle bells all came suddenly, as Webber bagged victory at both the following races one after the other at the Spanish as well as the Monaco Grand Prix. This also brought the driver to the top of the drivers’ charts. With these two races Red Bull emerged to be the fastest team on the track as their RB6 was unchaseable by any of the other teams.
As the season moved on, new challenges and controversies arose for Red Bull as they were seen suffering from severe internal conflicts and rivalries inside the team that affected their on-track performance.
The worst effects of this rivalry was seen at the Turkish Grand Prix, where the two team drivers, Webber and Sebastian Vettel crashed into each other, while they were heading for a one two finish for the team. This resulted in Vettel’s retirement from the race, while Webber’s top position was handed to Lewis Hamilton.
At Montreal, Webber hardly made to the fifth place, while the next race at Valencia engaged the driver in a crash with Heikki Kovalainen and both had to retire from the race.
However, the Australian returned to Silverstone with a new zeal and was able to bag his third victory of the season followed by his forth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, being the only racer who has had four wins so far this season.
The thirteenth round of the season that took place last Sunday saw him at second place on the podium, bringing the driver to second place in the driver’s standing.
Currently he stands as one of the strongest contenders alongside Lewis Hamilton for the title contention having bagged a total of one hundred and seventy nine points all together.
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