Mark Webber announces retirement from Formula 1 – Formula 1 news
Mark Webber has announced his retirement from Formula 1 and will be racing for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours in 2014.
Revealing his plans, the Red Bull driver said, “It’s an honour for me to join Porsche at its return to the top category in Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship and be part of the team. Porsche has written racing history as a manufacturer
and stands for outstanding technology and performance at the highest level.”
He added, “I’m very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula One. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world.”
The Australian driver started his Formula 1 career in 2002 with Minardi, but never really got a chance to fight for the title until he moved to Red Bull in 2007. However, he was unable to enjoy his time with the reigning world champions and was involved
in numerous clashes with team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who has been the dominant of the two drivers over the years.
In 2010, Webber was in a very strong position to win the first ever title of his career, but things did not work out for him as he had planned. He was in the championship lead for most part of the season and it appeared that he would comfortably finish ahead
of rival Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
However, Red Bull decided not to back the veteran driver and continued their support for Vettel, who then bounced back to claim his maiden championship after a thrilling battle with his team-mate and Alonso.
From then onwards, the 36-year-old driver was not in a position to fight for victories with consistency and he had to play second fiddle to his team-mate, who dominated the rest of the field, winning three consecutive championships.
During the second race of the 2013 season, Webber felt let down by his team, after a victory was stolen from him by his German partner, who then got away without facing any penalties. Since then, it was just a matter of time before Webber announced his retirement
from the sport.
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