Mark Webber

Nine-times Formula 1 Grand Prix winner and 2015 FIA World Endurance Champion Mark Webber is one of motorsport’s most recognised stars and today remains fully active in the sport as both a brand ambassador and broadcaster. During his racing career he notched up 215 races, nine victories - most notably becoming a double winner of both the prestigious Monaco and British Grands Prix – and accumulated an impressive tally of 42 podium finishes, 13 pole positions and 19 fastest laps.

Mark’s early career was a constant struggle for funding as he emerged from karting and tried to make a name for himself in Australian Formula Ford. He moved to the UK in 1996 to pursue his dream and lived on £43 a day, which he made from working at driving schools. Getting from race to race in a battered B-reg Ford Fiesta, he slowly learned the tracks and won the Formula Ford Festival at the end of the year.

 A chance meeting with Norbert Haug at the Australian Grand Prix Ball led to a test in a Mercedes CLK GTR sports car and an impressive performance secured him a place on the German car giant's books. He and co-driver Bernd Schneider finished a close second in the 1998 FIA GT championship to their team-mates and Webber polished his act as a driver. In 1999 he went to Le Mans with Mercedes but disaster struck when the car flipped on two separate occasions due to a major aerodynamic fault. Webber said: "I knew there and then that I had to get back into single-seaters." After the second accident he never drove a Mercedes race car again. The following year he entered F3000 and got his first test with the Renault Formula One team, impressing the team. Victory at Monaco in the 2001 F1 support race persuaded Flavio Briatore to sign Webber to his management company and all of a sudden Formula One became a serious possibility.

With very limited testing mileage he exploded onto the grand prix scene with a fifth place finish on his debut in Australia, to the delight of his home fans. It was his only points finish of the season, but it opened the door to a test with Jaguar and a race seat in 2003. Webber built a reputation as a quick qualifier but an unlucky race driver and for 2005, Webber didn't fancy facing Fernando Alonso as a team-mate and, against the wishes of Briatore, plumped for Williams.

2009 was his breakthrough season, now with Red Bull, and two victories at the Nurburgring and Interlagos, but he started the season recovering from a broken leg and wasn't able to give 100%. He also came across Sebastian Vettel as a team-mate for the first time and was comprehensively out-qualified and out-scored. In 2010 he got himself on a par with the young German but their relationship soured when Webber felt the team was favouring Vettel. The pair collided on track in Turkey and then Webber was incensed when Red Bull gave Vettel his improved front wing for the British Grand Prix.

The rivalry lasted until the final race when Webber arrived with a chance of taking the title and with four grand prix victories to his name. However, a botched tyre strategy ruined his chances and he had to watch on from seventh place as Vettel won the race and the title. Webber hoped to beat Vettel in 2011, but he struggled with the new Pirelli tyres as his team-mate dominated the season, with Webber's only win coming in the final race at Brazil. With another single-year contract under his belt he fared better at the start of 2012 compared to Vettel, but he couldn't sustain his improved form throughout the season and finished 102 points off his team-mate.

Always keen on outdoor pursuits and wanting to give back to his home country, Mark launched the Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge in the F1 off-season of 2003. The seventh cycle of the gruelling charitable adventure race took place in December 2013 and the event has raised over $1.5 million AUD for charities in Australia.

Since stepping away from Formula 1, Mark has had the opportunity to delve into the world of sports broadcasting. Knowledgeable and quick-witted, Mark has teamed up with national broadcaster Channel Ten for their Australian Grand Prix coverage since 2014. In 2022 Mark is enjoying his sixth year as part of Channel 4’s F1 commentary team for its UK terrestrial broadcast coverage, presenting alongside David Coulthard and host Steve Jones. In the 2017 Australia Day Honours list, Mark received his country’s highest national honour – becoming an Officer of the Order of Australia

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