“Mark Webber: A Brief Biography”
Born in New South Wales, Australia, Mark Webber made a rather belated debut in the motor sporting arena at the age of fourteen. Webber began by initially contesting on motorbikes, and soon turned to Kart racing where he was able to accumulate considerable silverware at his home state of New South Wales. Subsequently, Webber abandoned the idea of a career in motor biking and determined to embark on a journey with the quad wheel drive.
In 1994 Webber clinched the fourteenth position in the Australian Formula Ford championship which he had joined the same year. In the subsequent year, Webber went on to prove his mettle as a significant force in the motor racing arena by decisively triumphing at the Australian Grand Prix support race and booking his place at the podium several times. Upon his initiation on to the international stage in 1995, the Australian further consolidated his position as a serious motor sporting contender upon seizing the third position at the Formula Ford Festival in England.
Webbers successful run at Brands Hatch was to assist him in securing a place with the Van Diemen team for the 1996 British Formula Ford championship. The young driver reaped the utmost out of this deal by finishing first in four races before walking away with an aggregate second spot in the competition. Webber then wrapped up his successful season by making a memorably triumphant comeback at the 1996 Brands Hatch festival.
Having made his transition to the British Formula Three, the Australian motorsport enthusiast prevailed fourth in the 1997 season. Webber’s winning form at the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort and the Macau Grand Prix brought him to the notice of the Mercedes AMG sports car team, who added the budding driver to the payroll for the FIA GT Championship. Paired with the prevailing world champion Bernd Schneider, Webber hit sensational form by booking five victories and was deprived of the ultimate title by just a slim margin.
In 1999, Webber continued with the Mercedes AMG team, participating in its luckless offensive at the season’s 24-hours of Le Mans competition. Unluckily, AMG was impelled to pull out of the championship and that year’s competition after Webber’s Mercedes memorably spun out of control at furious velocity more than once. Although the Australian walked away from the accident unhurt both times, Webber decided to relinquish his sports car ambitions to concentrate his energies towards open-wheel racing instead. He was able speedily book a place on Australian businessman Paul Stoddart’s freshly constructed Formula 3000 team after impressing his countryman by a dazzling test run display.
Webber’s magnificent form at the championship, together with Stoddart’s association with team Arrows superior Tom Walkinshaw, contrived to secure for him some of his earliest Formula One assignments. Webber was consequently able to seal a pact with Flavio Briatore and Benetton who signed him up as a backup driver for the 2001 season. Meanwhile, in accordance with the arrangement, Webber kept up his exploits for F3000, competing for the Super Nova team. In 2002, his upbeat form helped him reserve a place at the Minardi team with Stoddart at the helm.
With Minardi, Webber hit splendid form at the 2002 season; his success on track outstripped the most optimistic forecasts and he was able to persistently out-class fellow driver Alex Yoong. 2003 saw the Australian make a move to Jaguar where he persisted in his impressive form, remarkably finishing third at both the Brazilian and Hungarian qualifiers. In 2004, however, a slump in Jaguar’s prospects thwarted Webber’s chances for success, precipitating his move to Williams for the 2005 season.
Although most Formula One pundits had a good reason to be optimistic about the Australian’s transfer to Williams, Webber’s spell with the British giants was to prove far from successful; throughout the 2005-2006 seasons, he continued to fail himself on track despite finishing third at the Monaco circuit in 2005, where he was consequently able to book his very first podium position as a Formula One driver. In 2007, Webber abandoned Williams for the Red Bull lineup where he has continued ever since. Although his progress throughout the 2007-2008 seasons was to some extent hampered by the Red Bull RB3 car’s unpredictability, Webber was nevertheless able to clinch a well-earned third position at Nurburgring and ended fourth at Monaco the following year.
Year 2009 saw Webber’s fortunes flourish once again when he was ultimately able to seize his first F1 win with Red Bull following 130 unyielding runs. Webber continued his triumphant streak at Brazil, concluding the year with quite a decent aggregate fourth position, despite a failed bid at snatching the title. Success has followed the Australian’s heels into the 2010 season, where he has so far claimed decisive victories at both the classic Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix’s; for the remaining 2010 season, the thirty-four year old Australian will definitely be one of the drivers to watch.
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