MOTORSPORT: Mark Webber's fabulous F1 career

A fairytale too that he’s had a 12-year career in motorsport’s biggest league, that for seven of those years he has driven the cars of the sport’s most successful – and arguably greatest – designer, Adrian Newey, and that he has won nine grands prix.

Webber has declared “stumps” on his F1 career at the end of this season to go sports car racing.

As fabulous as his career has been, there won’t be a complete fairytale ending.

Hopefully he will round out his resume to 10 GP wins, perhaps a dozen, but there won’t be a world title. And there won’t be a home-race win at Melbourne’s Australian Grand Prix.

But his “retirement package” – which he’s arranged himself, but not self-funded – will be the best Porsche on earth, the new machine the most successful manufacturer in the history of the Le Mans 24-Hour is building to return in the quest for more outright honours in the French classic and the broader World Endurance Championship.

There is a great irony to this. In the late 1990s Webber drove sports cars for Mercedes and twice went to Le Mans. The first time his car was on pole position but was an early retirement. The second time his super-sleek 5.7-litre CLR twice flipped at phenomenal speeds in practice, even jumping high catch-fencing and landing among tree, and it was a miracle that Webber wasn’t killed. He was a non-starter for the race, another CLR then did the same and the third was withdrawn – and those cars never raced again.

Webber did not want to see Le Mans again. But time has healed those scars and now he has said he has “unfinished business” there.

“I accept that motor racing is dangerous, but Le Mans is one of the most famous circuits in the world,” he said.

“Le Mans can be cruel as we’ve just seen (with the death of Allan Simonsen) but it’s incredibly rewarding – and that’s part of the allure.”

Webber’s pay packet will be much, much smaller beyond this year – from perhaps $10 million a season with Red Bull Racing in F1 it may come down to about $1 million or so with Porsche, but that will be supplemented by him remaining a kind of ambassador in the Red Bull “family” and there will be other endorsements.

He will continue to live in Britain but spend time at his place on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast – a nice balance - and there may well be F1 commentary work for him.

The introduction of a new era of cars to GP racing next year, with V6 turbocharged engines, made the time right for Webber’s decision.
He may not have retained a seat at Red Bull anyway, but there may have been interest from elsewhere along the pitlane, but that has become irrelevant.

Now that the Porsche switch mooted for several months has been confirmed there will be even more attention on who will succeed him as the teammate to triple world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen is favoured to move from Lotus, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo – 24 next Monday – and French youngster Jean-Eric Vergne, teammates in Red Bull’s junior F1 team Toro Rosso, also are in the running. Perhaps even Jenson Button if McLaren’s fortunes don’t improve.

An announcement on the replacement may be at least a couple of months away yet.

So where does Webber stack up in the annals of F1 history?

Well, twice he was a very strong contender for the world title. He finished third both times, in 2010 – very narrowly after leading for much of the season - and 2011.

While his delight at his maiden GP victory in Germany in 2009 is unforgettable, his two wins in both the Monaco and German GPs in 2010 and last year are his hallmark.

Red Bull motorsport powerbroker Dr Helmut Marko famously said a few months ago that Webber was capable of such drives a couple of times a year but that he could not string together the performances of Vettel and a handful of others that made them world champions.

That was a brutally blunt but accurate assessment.

And, it must be said, the rivals Webber has raced against have been perhaps the greatest collection of driving talent F1 has seen. Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Michael Schumacher in his prime.

He may well have to wear a “nearly man” tag for life, but he need feel no embarrassment at having come second, third, fourth or fifth to those greats.
BBC chief F1 writer Andrew Benson has written overnight of Webber and his difficult relationship with Vettel.

“Undoubtedly Vettel has emerged as the superior driver, but the margins have generally been small and it says a lot for Webber’s single-mindedness and mental fortitude that he has been able to continually keep the pressure on the German – and sometimes beat him fair and square – despite knowing exactly where the team’s priorities lie,” Benson said.

Among the dozen or so Australians to have raced in F1 Webber’s place is defined very clearly by the statistics.

He sits third, behind triple world champion Sir Jack Brabham and 1980 champion Alan Jones. Apart from Webber, Tim Schenken is the only other Aussie to have achieved a podium finish.

Webber has stood on the rostrum 36 times in a career that spanned the minnow Minardi in the days of its expatriate Australian owner Paul Stoddart, then Jaguar and Williams before Red Bull.

Brabham drove 126 GPs, won 14 and was on the podium 17 other times. Jones drove 116 GPs, won 12 and had another 12 podiums.

Webber has competed in 205 GPs and has a dozen to go, starting with Sunday’s British race at Silverstone where he has won twice.

He will end up doing almost as many races as Brabham and Jones between but, unless there is a purple patch ahead in the next five months, come away with less wins than either.

Webber, a most decent human being, pays due deference to Brabham and Jones, even though he and the latter have never been close, as Aussies who got the ultimate job of winning the world title done.

He won’t get to achieve his dream of being an F1 world champion too, but he’s on the “podium” with Jack and AJ.

He’s raced against the very best of his era, sometimes beating them.

There have been magic moments, such as that fifth on debut with Minardi in Melbourne in 2002, that breakthrough victory in Germany in 2009 and the joy it brought, and the breathtaking pass on Alonso at Spa in Belgium two years ago.

As with Brabham and Jones, Webber probably is destined always to be appreciated more overseas – especially in Britain, F1’s heartland – than at home.

“I realize F1 is seen as the absolute pinnacle of motorsport and I’ve worked with some incredible people, in particular Adrian Newey,” Webber said.

“I’ve driven in some of the toughest and most challenging conditions and circuits, and against some incredible drivers, which I’ll continue to do until the end of the year.

“Will I miss some of this? Yes, of course, but time doesn’t stand still and it’s time to move on to my next challenge.”
Webber can hold his head very high and be mighty proud of what he has done in F1. And Australia should be damn proud of him too.