Mark Webber’s career in video (Part 2)

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Webber finally became a Grand Prix winner at the Nurburgring this year

F1 Fanatic guest writer Journeyer concludes his lok at Mark Webber’s F1 career so far.

If there’s one thing Mark Webber is known for, it’s fighting through adversity. He had to go through a lot of it to get to the top. Before he could win, he had to face a lot more of it.

2005: Mark expected his move to Williams-BMW to mark the start of his run as a championship contender. But he ran into two big issues. First, the Williams car simply didn’t look quick enough to win races. Second, his teammate Nick Heidfeld was beating him. Webberscored his debut podium at Monaco that year, finishing third, but even then Heidfeld beat him by finishing second.

2006: By now, Williams was just one of the teams in the midfield. Now running Cosworth power instead of BMW, the team struggled for pace. Mark here is making a pass in the midfield, but he didn’t score any points there. In fact, he only made it to the finish seven times, scoring on just three occasions.

2007: After being unable to work out terms with Williams, Webber switched teams again. He found a place at his old Jaguar team, now owned and run by Red Bull. Just like 2006, he only scored thrice, but he did grab a podium at the Nurburgring. He also had a shot at winning at Fuji when he was running second, but that ended in disaster when third-placed Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso crashed into him during the safety car period. Webber was furious.

2008: No podiums that season, but he was finishing more often and scoring points more consistently. Still, Webber was as racy as ever, trying to overtake Lewis Hamilton here at Monza.

2009: Webber has been a revelation this year. The new rules have allowed designer Adrian Newey to shine, and the car has been very good. Many were expecting the Australian to be crushed by new team mate Vettel, but he’s proved to be more consistent than ‘Der Seb’. It was looking good for Webber, and his first win at the Nurburgring just made it look even better. The video’s not the best in quality, but I just had to show the outpouring of emotions he felt after the race. It was truly incredible.

So what does the future hold for Mark Webber? Never mind the future, he’ll be focusing on the present and winning the championship this year. With a contract renewal with Red Bull looking likely, it seems that Webber has finally shaken off all those years of bad luck and adversity. But the best may yet be to come.

7 comments on “Mark Webber’s career in video (Part 2)”

  1. He made the wrong choice going to Williams instead of Renault in 2005. Glad he’s finally got a chance in a race winning car but as a Vettel fan I don’t want him doing too well :-P

    1. as a Vettel fan, I want to see Webber doing well. And being beaten by Vettel.

      1. Vettel does appear to be a prodigious talent. Webber, however, is 13kg’s heavier than Vettel and there still appears to be a battle royale for supremacy in the team.

        Webber underrated or Vettel overrated? I suspect a bit of both.

        As a Webber fan, I kinda got the impression that the author isn’t very fond of him, but I certainly enjoyed watching the vids… thanks :)

        1. Hey Ace – I don’t like or hate Webber per se. He made some wrong decisions career-wise, but he made the best of what he had. But I did love how he reacted to his win – how can you not? :D

  2. Terry Fabulous
    24th July 2009, 12:28

    I swear that he says ‘fcuking beauty’ in that last clip.
    What a champ, I love people who inadvertantly swear on tv.

    Danny Cipriani is another great one.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZLYQBYyozg

    1. It IS what he said, Terry. I think Webber also swore after the Spanish GP when he was talking to the Brawn boys before the podium.

  3. I have to say that in many ways Mark Webber reminds me alot of Jenson Button in that he has always missed out on driving the best cars. His time at Jaguar and Williams were obviously not happy times, especially at Williams which had promised so much. It was a shame that Mark had not been given the Williams drive earlier, possibly a pairing with Montoya under BMW power, maywell have catapulted the Australian’s career in a better direction.
    Sadly, the Williams team he encountered was no where near the competitiveness of that experienced by Montoya or Ralf Schumacher. Thank goodness, that now is a memory.

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