2012 will hold importance to Mark Webber’s future

Mark Webber may be considered as playing second fiddle to Sebastian Vettel but there is no doubt that the Aussie holds enough skill and mettle to win a world title.

Webber made his debut in 2002 for Minardi and had a slow start to his career. Jaguar acquired Webber in 2003 and the Aussie had an improved performance for the two years stint he had with Jaguar. At the end of 2004, Webber was looking for another change of teams and this time it was Williams.

Although Webber had a fairly good start with Williams in 2004, but instead of improving upon his good start the 2005 season saw him drop down and the hard working Aussie decided to make another move, this time Webber was looking for some familiar faces and wanted to join Jaguar one more time.

Jaguar was taken over by Red Bull and Webber signed on with a team that was going to bring good fortune for him. Webber has raced for Red Bull for five seasons and counting, and so far it has been quite a good relationship. The highlight of his stint with Red Bull is 2010 when Webber found himself in grasp of the world title.

Luck was not on his side and the Aussie endured a shoulder injury which caused him to be slower in pace in the last few Grands Prix of the season and his teammate Vettel tweaked his driving form at the right time to steal the world title.

Webber was heartbroken and disappointed but his work ethics and hard work over the years have taught him well to face up to challenges and the Aussie started the 2011 season to start afresh.

2011 became a year of a new heartthrob of the sport and if Vettel’s first world title in 2010 alerted the followers of the sport of his potential, 2011 title confirmed it. Webber only managed a solitary win in the year which came at the final race of the season at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The win came after Vettel suffered technical difficulties with his car’s gearbox and had to lower his pace to safeguard the car and to avert retirement from the race.

The win summed up the season for Webber and gave some light to challenge the Aussie has been up against for almost three years when Vettel moved from Toro Rosso to join the big boys. Webber at age 35 is still not out of the game and will be giving it another go at a world title win in 2012.

The positive aspect of his position for 2012 is that there are no real expectations from him and he is considered an underdog while Vettel is his teammate. Webber has stated earlier that he will be going after the wins in 2012 and look to improve on his 2011 performances.

2012 might prove to be a different story for the Aussie as he struggled among other drivers from the sport with the new Pirelli tyres, but after a season of racing with the rubber compound he will be much more assured of his driving.

At the end of 2012, Webber’s contract with Red Bull expires and he will be looking to perform as best as he can in order to extend his contract or in case of a move lure teams to sign him up for another season.

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Posted by Kashif Khan on Feb 8 2012. Filed under Sports. 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.