MARK WEBBER: I HAD A ONE-WAY TICKET TO THE TOP
Mark Webber’s Twitter name of Aussie Grit sums him up perfectly. The amiable racer had a 12-year stint in grand prix racing which brought him three third places in the Formula 1 standings, and he conquered the world in sportscar racing.
But for the New South Wales driver, things didn’t come easy. He had to work for all he earned. That was true right from the starting point of his car racing career as he travelled to the other side of the world to take his first major steps.
Adream deal with Mercedes-Benz launched his career – very literally at Le Mans – but it was single-seaters where his heart laid. After a dream debut with Minardi at his home grand prix in 2002, he ended up at Red Bull in 2007 and, just as the Milton Keynes team hit its stride in the top-flight, Sebastian Vettel arrived on the scene.
When his F1 career was over, Webber went on to become a mainstay of the Porsche LMP1 crew and claimed a world title of his own with the FIAWorld Endurance crown in 2015.
Now Webber has swapped the steering wheel for a Channel 4 microphone as a key member of the F1 broadcasting crew. His straight talking has made him a huge hit with the viewers.
Webber took time out of his busy schedule to tackle the Motorsport News readers’questions. His answers are, in true Webber fashion, typically forthright.
Question: What persuaded you into motorsport? Were you looking at Australian Supercars?
John Charles Via email
Mark Webber: “It was from my father really, because he was a huge fan of watching Sir Jack Brabham and Jimmy Clark, and even Stirling Moss before that. He would hang on the results of the races, but it would be two weeks before we got any news about what had happened in the races because it took a while to reachAustralia.
“He loved the Tasman series and the drivers coming down to Warwick Farm and Longford: he would hitchhike to some of the races to see them. He wasn’t a touring car man, he was always into open-wheelers.
“That had a great knock-on effect for me when I was a young teenager. I used to watch a lot of grands prix and I remember the first one I watched was the Monaco Grand Prix in 1984, the wet one. That was theAyrton Senna race where he shone in the Toleman and Nigel Mansell crashed up the hill when he was leading. That’s vivid in my memory, Mansell dropping it up the hill to Beau Rivage.
“Coupled with that, dad had a motorbike dealership selling Yamahas, so I started on that. Not competing on them, but just flying around on them. Dad sponsored other kids on dirt bikes but I never raced because dad knew that would probably end up in a divorce in the house.”
So when was the first time you went to a car
