Formula One News

Mark Webber Bio

Red Bull Racing made his Formula One test debut in 1999 when he took part in a two-day test with Arrows at Barcelona in December. In 2000, Webber finished third in the F3000 Championship driving for Eurobet Arrows, as well as acted as the official test driver for their F1 outfit. However, contract problems meant that Webber never drove the A21. Although, he did successful complete a three-day evaluation test with the Benetton team, and as a result was quickly snapped up as their official 2001 test driver.

2002 saw Webber compete in Formula One for the first when he signed to drive for Minardi. Webber couldn’t have asked for much more in his debut race, when Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher took out a large proportion of the grid at the first corner in Melbourne. This gave Webber the opportunity to battle with Salo for a fifth-place finish at his home grand prix.

Webber switched to drive for Jaguar in 2003, and the Australian was quick to put his new team-mate Antonio Pizzonia in the shade. Even though points were few and far between for the team that year, Webber did finish the season with the reputation of a top-rate driver.

Webber remained at Jaguar for 2004, although as the team continued to struggle with pace, by mid-season it was an open secret that Webber planned to leave the team at the end of the season. The only question was whether he would move to Renault or Williams. Eventually, Webber chose Williams. However, his next two seasons with the Williams team didn’t go as well as he had hoped, as the team struggled with pace, reliability and just about everything else. In fact 2006 was Williams’ worst season in ten years. Webber only managed to score seven points and finished 14th in the championship overall. This poor result saw Webber’s partnership end with the team at the end of the season.

Webber moved over to partner David Coulthard at Red Bull Racing for the 2007 season, and as like his two seasons with Williams, his first season with Red Bull was again filled with reliability issues. Webber was forced to retire from seven races through-out the season. Although, he did put in some top qualifying performances, it was just the unavoidable retirements that hampered his and Red Bull’s progress, resulting in just three points-paying finishes for the Aussie throughout the season.

Webber’s second season with Red Bull again was filled with reliability issues. Although he did put together a run of five successive points-scoring finishes at the start of the season.

Webber had a cycling accident at the end of 2008, which saw the Aussie driver break his leg. This put Webber on the back foot for the new 2009 season as he got back up to full fitness. He finished the season fourth in the Drivers’ standings, a marked improvement on his previous years’ results.

2010 is the closest Mark Webber has ever been to clinching the World title. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be as his Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel just pipped him to the post at the final race of the season. The team was the dominant force in 2010 with Webber and Vettel claiming pole position after pole position as well as a few race wins along the way.

However, along with the team’s success came moments of fighting and arguments within the team, as the battle for the championship title heightened. Webber complained that the team showed favouritism towards team-mate Vettel, and even went as far as to declare “not too bad for a number two driver” over the radio to team principal, Chris Horner after crossing the line first at the 2010 British Grand Prix. Although, the reason behind this comment weren’t without reason, after the decision was taken by the team to remove a new upgraded front wing from Webber’s car to replace the upgraded front wing of Vettel’s car, after the young German driver broke his before the race. Furthermore, the problem wasn’t helped when the duo crashed into each other in Turkey while fighting for the win.

The tension mounted and the relationship between the two drivers made many a headline with Webber, who was in front heading into the final race of the Championship, urging Red Bull to back his World title campaign. But it wasn’t to be. Instead the team allowed both drivers to race and a poor pit stop strategy for the Australian at the season finale dropped him down the order in Abu Dhabi, costing him the championship.

It also emerged shortly after the conclusion of the 2010 Championship that Webber had driven the final four grands prix with a shoulder fracture, an injury sustained in a mounting bike accident, but had neglected to tell his team.

Webber remains at Red Bull Racing in 2011.