IN TENSE
BRUTAL
The winner’s podium in glitzy Monte Carlo must have seemed light years away for an energetic kid punishing his dirt bike on a rural paddock down under. John Caruso discovers that if you want something badly enough, dreams do come true.
PASSION
I
f you’ve ever watched the drivers take their positions on the starting grid just before the lights go out signalling the start of another Formula One Grand Prix, understand that you’re watching something unique. Those drivers, claustrophobically-cocooned and harnessed into the cockpits of their 325km/hr ‘bullets’ are all part of a super elite club. Afterall, there’s only twenty in the world that do this for a living each year and in the history of Formula One racing there’s only ever been four Australians that have won a Formula One Grand Prix.
Mark Webber, a boy from Queanbeyan in New South Wales lined his car up on that grid during the F1 season for 12 high speed years. “My dad Alan was the local Yamaha dealer for over 20 years,” he said. “Clive, my grandad, and one of my bloody heroes, had the workshop before him so I spent a lot of time on dirt bikes. You don’t realise how lucky you are to ride a motorbike as a kid in a paddock. “Dad would leave a jerry can of fuel out for me and simply leave me to it. I’ve often questioned dad about that and he simply had that trust in me, that I would discover where my limits were without getting badly injured and that was a great lesson, learning about discipline and trust and it helped me focus and concentrate on what I was doing - and I credit that early practical education to my father.”
IN Noosa Magazine
It was Mark’s dad who was fascinated by Formula One and the single seater racing scene. “I was about eight-years-old watching the Monte Carlo Grand Prix and I saw Nigel Mansell crash his JPS Lotus during the race and I thought these drivers were absolute legends and heroes and I became addicted to so many facets of the sport,” remembers Mark. It had been a long time between drinks since an Aussie had relocated to the UK to pursue a Formula One dream. Seventeen years before Mark’s journey to the
"...I HAD THIS OUT-OFBODY EXPERIENCE, AND I THOUGHT, I’M READY FOR THIS." northern hemisphere, Alan Jones had won the 1980 World Driver’s Championship for the Williams F1 team, which was their first championship incidentally. “Rugby Union great David Campese did back me financially in 1997 which was tremendous. I knew him from Queanbeyan,” Mark recalls. “I drove this shit-box Ford Laser to Heathrow in London when I heard the Wallabies were flying in and I ‘doorstopped’ Campo at the airport. I said ‘I’m on the bones of my arse and I don’t want to return to Australia with my tail between
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my legs’ and he promised me some coin to keep me going.” The Formula One season opener in 2002, like the six openers before it, was in Melbourne, home territory for Mark with grandstands full of Aussie fans cheering the new kid in the Minardi Formula One car. Drivers Rubens Barrichello and Ralph Schumacher had a coming-together at the start which saw Ralph’s car airborne and a multi-car pile-up follow. “The car I was driving was notoriously prepared,” remembers Mark. “Reliabilitywise, we were very much on the back foot. “Because of the crash on the first corner I thought the race was going to be ‘red-flagged’ and restarted however, for whatever reason, the race officials kept it going and that was a huge benefit for me. “Before I started that race the Minardi team owner, another Aussie called Paul Stoddart, said ‘if you can simply finish the race that’ll be great’ however as the race went on and I moved up through the field to fifth, Paul changed his tune.” The instructions that came over the team radio were clear, under no circumstances should Mark let Mika Salo, pass him. “Mika had about 100 Grand Prix under his belt, far more experienced than me, and he had a faster car,” he said. “At that moment I had this out-of-body experience, and I thought, ‘I’m ready for