Mark
Webber

Mark Webber was born in 1976 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. He rode motorbikes as a child and switched to karting at around twelve or thirteen, winning regional championships. In 1994 he began car racing in Australian Formula Ford and moved to Britain the following year. He finished second in British Formula Ford in 1996 and fourth in British Formula 3 in 1997. In 1998 he drove for AMG Mercedes alongside Bernd Schneider in the FIA GT Championship, taking five wins and finishing as runner-up. At the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours he had to withdraw his Mercedes CLR after accidents in practice. In International Formula 3000 he was third in 2000 and runner-up to Justin Wilson in 2001 with Super Nova Racing. In 2001 he also worked as a test and reserve driver for Benetton.

Webber made his Formula One debut with Minardi in 2002, finishing fifth in his home race in Australia. He drove for Jaguar in 2003 and 2004. He qualified third in Brazil in 2003 and ended that year tenth in the championship. In 2005 he joined Williams and finished third at Monaco, his first podium. He was tenth overall that year. In 2006, when Nico Rosberg was his team-mate, he finished fourteenth.

From 2007 to 2013 Webber raced for Red Bull. He took third place at the 2007 European Grand Prix. From 2009 Sebastian Vettel was his team-mate, and in Germany that year Webber took his maiden pole position and first win. A second victory followed in Brazil, and he finished the year fourth. In 2010 he won four races and went into the Abu Dhabi finale with a chance of the title, but finished eighth and ended the season third. He won in Brazil in 2011 and was third again. In 2012 he won the Monaco and British Grands Prix. He was winless in 2013 but again finished third, and in Malaysia Vettel passed him and won the race against a team order. In total Webber made 215 starts, with nine wins, 13 pole positions and 42 podiums.

After Formula One he joined Porsche in the World Endurance Championship, sharing the 919 Hybrid with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. The trio won the drivers' title in 2015. Webber retired from racing at the end of 2016. He also became a television pundit. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017, and was inducted into the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame in 2018 and the FIA Hall of Fame in 2019.

Source: Wikipedia, “Mark Webber (racing driver)”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.