Mark Webber

Mark Webber has banked on his hard work all his life to achieve what he has to date. The Aussie earlier in his career worked odd jobs to make enough money to keep his passion of motorsport birth alive.

Webber started his Formula 1 career in 2002 with Minardi where he impressed with his hard working ethics and won the rookie of the year award the same year. The good showing in his debut season was taken in notice by Jaguar who offered him a contract for the following season.

Webber’s jaguar stint did not start as he would have liked it to as he encountered technical difficulties in his initial race and had to retire in front of his home crowd during the Australian Grand Prix finishing 14th. The whole season went on with several retirements through technical failures and on track crashes.

The 2004 season started off better than the previous one, but the end-result was similar, with the Aussie facing the same fate as 2003 with a lot of technical difficulties and car crashes. The end of the season was not only the last race Webber did for Jaguar, it was also the last race for the team in Formula 1.

Webber joined Williams for the 2005 season and had a mixed stint with them as well as he dealt with teammate rivalry and injuries and more crashes. At the end of the 2005 season, Webber conceded that his reputation as a good driver had been diminished after his tenure with Williams but still surprisingly decided to stay on with the team even though BMW Sauber offered the Aussie a contract.

The 2006 season was not much better but Webber kept pushing for better performances but it went all in vain as the season ended with Webber only scoring 7 points. It was a frustrating period for the Aussie who had been trying hard to achieve his first Grand Prix victory.

The end of the Williams stint brought Webber to opt for Red Bull with Adrian Newey as technical director. The 2007 season did not bring much success to Webber but it was a relatively better season for the Aussie as he scored 10 points in the season with a best finish of 3rd place and a podium finish.

2008 was the most successful season for the Aussie since 2005 as he scored 21 points in the season.

2009 was the big season for Webber, as he after a wait of seven long years claimed his first ever Grand Prix victory. It was also the season Webber was partnered up with Sebastian Vettel. Webber finished the season with an impressive 4th place finish in the drivers’ championship scoring 69.5 points with a total of two Grands Prix wins and 8 podium finishes. The season gave Webber the spark to do even better for the upcoming season.

So he did, the Aussie displayed his career’s best performances during the 2010 season and won four Grands Prix wins with 10 podium finishes and scored 242 points. It was the biggest opportunity for the Aussie to win his first ever world title. Webber’s luck caught up with him though and an injury to his collar bone did not allow him to match the pace to his potential in the last four races of the season. The injury caused him to be out paced by his rookie teammate Vettel who took the title. Webber finished the season coming in 3rd in the drivers’ championship.

It was expected that Webber will be in serious contention for the world title in 2011 with a dominant Red Bull car but the season was only a display of the sheer talent that had taken the F1 by a storm. It was the Vettel show and Webber could only watch his teammate from the behind as the German won 11 Grands Prix in the season. Webber only managed a single Grand Prix win at the final race of the season at Brazil.

Going into 2012 former players and critics of the sport and expected a much better performance from the Aussie as they recognise his hard work ethics and understand that Webber is a the kind of driver who does not get bogged down by disappointment. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone also gave a statement that he expected Webber to make it much harder for Vettel in the 2012 season, and it may not prove to be the same dominant display as seen in 2011.

How the Aussie will fare in the 2012 season, only time will tell, but judging from his career he will not let it pass by without putting in immense effort as it can be the defining season of his career.

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Posted by Kashif Khan on Jan 30 2012. Filed under Sports, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.