![]() ![]() On 27 June 2013, Webber announced he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the season. Webber was also a long-term director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, the Formula One drivers' union. He finished the season in sixth position. Webber partnered Vettel again in the 2012 season, outperforming him in the early season and looked to be a major title contender but fell away with no wins in the second half of the season after two in the Monaco and British Grand Prix. Webber added another race victory in the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, as he once again finished third behind champion Vettel and runner-up Jenson Button. Webber finished the 2010 season in third place having led for a long period, losing out to teammate Sebastian Vettel in the final race of the season. He added ten more podiums in 2010, including victories in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary. His eight podiums in 2009 compares to only two podiums in the first seven years of his career. By the end of 2009, Webber had scored eight podiums, including another victory in Brazil. His first F1 win was with Red Bull at the 2009 German Grand Prix, which followed second places at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, 2009 Turkish Grand Prix and 2009 British Grand Prix. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team, Webber qualified on the front two rows of the grid several times and outperformed his teammates. After his first season, Jaguar took him on as lead driver. Webber made his Formula One debut in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. He also beat future F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, then 19, in the 2000 International Formula 3000 season. Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European Racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team. A strong recovery to P13 was the best they could do.Mark Alan Webber (born 27 August 1976) is an Australian former professional racing driver, who last competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship as a Porsche works driver in LMP1, in which he won the championship in 2015.Īfter some racing success in Australia driving Formula Ford and Formula Holden, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career. Webber's car qualified second but a water pump problem during the first part of the race would drop them back to last place. Webber's WEC campaign in 2016 didn't start off well though A DNF at Silverstone while in the lead, plus finishing 26th in Spa, left the champions on the back foot. #1 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid: Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley Perhaps not winning the endurance classic was Webber's only disappointment that year but he would get another chance. He finished second, a lap down to another Porsche car driven by Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Nico Hulkenberg. They claimed the WEC title at the final round in Bahrain.Īt the Le Mans 24 Hours, things went finally Webber's way. The #17 car would win four times out of eight rounds, with a total of six podiums and five pole positions. A DNF in the first race at Silverstone because of a drivetrain issue wasn't what they had hoped for, but this was just a glitch in a strong 2015 campaign. The WEC season didn't start so well for Webber's team. He would end the season recovering from bruises and a concussion, but was determined to do much better in 2015Ģ015 champions Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard, Porsche Team The low point for the Australian that year was another heavy crash, at the final round at Sao Paulo, when he tangled with a Ferrari at high speed just before the pit entry. In the Le Mans 24 Hours, the trio qualified fourth but an engine problem prevented a podium finish. They scored three podiums, one pole position and finished ninth in the drivers' championship. ![]() Yet in their first year together Webber and his crew raced very hard. It was a good thing in endurance racing to have stability in the driver line-up, because the competition in WEC's LMP1 class was pretty tough.īack then any of the three big manufacturers in the top class could win a race: Toyota, Audi & Porsche. Webber would be teammates with the same drivers for three years in WEC: Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard. #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid: Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber Here we look at how things panned out for the Australian after F1. Webber had experience in sportscars from before he raced in F1, and the growth of manufacturer interest in WEC made it an attractive place for top-line drivers. On the one hand it had been a surprise that he was leaving Red Bull, the team with which had almost won the title with in 2010, but the choice of going to WEC was not such a shock. ![]()
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