A portaight of Mark's journey in F1

[John S]

                  
                  WARNING LONG POST
 
I found this piece on the life and times of Mark in F1 on the Daily Mail website. I  enjoyed reading it and hope others will too. I really like the quote from Mark, "The english lads can go home to Mum" when talking about how hard the knocks can be for young lads on the ladder in motor racing.


There is something of the born battler in Webber, now 33. He came over to England 15 years ago, leaving behind the family's petrol station business in the small New South Wales town of Queanbeyan, near Canberra, to seek a career in motor racing.

It was difficult, though he was helped gaining sponsorship by Ann, now his partner, whom he met while she was living in Australia with her then husband and son Luke.

 'When you come over here to live it's a big commitment,' says Webber, a Ronnie Barker fan. 'The weather's s***; the food's s***. I couldn't believe kids walking to school in the dark and walking back in the dark.

'The English lads can go home to mum if it doesn't work. I was a long way from home. I didn't have a silver spoon. But you learn to get on with it. And if you want to get somewhere, what's the sacrifice in that?'

There were often penniless days as Ann plotted his progress from Formula Ford to Formula One. He got to the top echelon with Minardi in 2002, finishing fifth on his debut in Melbourne. It was a false omen.

Two lean years lay ahead with Jaguar and then two more at Williams, for whom he claimed the only podium of his pre-Red Bull career at Monaco in 2005. 'Williams was pretty harsh,' says Webber, now earning £5million a year. 'My motivation was strained because I went there expecting to do what I am doing at Red Bull. It just didn't happen.'

It has never been uneventful for Webber. He nearly ran over a Catholic priest performing a 'peace dance' on Silverstone's Hangar Straight. He drove a race with a broken rib and another with a helmet full of vomit. And in December 2008, he suffered a double compound fracture of his right leg, and a broken shoulder, when knocked off his bike during a charity ride in Tasmania.

He had 82 days to prove his fitness to Red Bull, and spent frustrating hours rehabilitating himself, including walking through incrementally deeper water without crutches.

He still has a steel pin screwed in through the length of his shin bone. After two winters of surgery, he has decided the metalwork will stay in until he calls time on his career at the end of next season or the one after.

Then there was his astonishing, somersaulting crash in Valencia a fortnight before the British Grand Prix. He went airborne at 190mph, flipped upside down and skidded across the run-off area.

'It was a nasty crash,' he says matter of factly. 'It was important to come back with a top result. It was fast but smooth as I went up until I hit the ground. You just worry about there being a bridge in the way.
'I always make an effort to move in the car afterwards to show Ann or Mum, people who love me, that I'm OK.'

Through all his setbacks, he has drawn inspiration from the lessons learned as a boy growing up in Australia. It is his creed. 'I was taught about morals and honesty,' he says. 'Growing up in my house you could have all the fun you wanted. 'But you were told not to damage anyone else's property. Not to lie. Not to do drugs. We didn't have alcohol in the house. Dad said if you get a company car, give it back as it got given to you. Clean it. Fill it with fuel. My dad got that outlook from his dad.

'If you crossed the line, you'd get a clip. You'd have a purple a*** for a while. It was a sensational upbringing. It was an area that was massively family orientated and a lot of sports were involved. 'Dad worked seven days a week sometimes and Mum was pulling the strings at home. 'It's made me old-fashioned in terms of Annie. A lot of people say you could be playing the field. It's only for your ego. I'm happy as I am. You try not to be shallow, but lead a full life.'
  
On the day I visit, his dad Alan, who encouraged Webber's early karting having hitch-hiked to Sydney's Warwick Farm to watch Brabham race, and mum Diane are with him, just as they were when he added victory at Silverstone to his triumphs in Spain and Monaco early in the season to lift himself to third in the drivers' championship, ahead of Vettel and behind the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

But, given his illness, he will not join them that night at The Stag Inn, the gastropub Ann runs in Mentmore. 'No way. As soon as you go I'll crash out,' he says. Sorry for himself? 'There's always worse news somewhere,' he says.'You see the Great Ormond Street kids. They are the harshest cards you can get dealt.

'Racing cars is great. But it's not f****** in space. People carrying on at the track, trying to get near you. It's crazy. There are so many people who can do things I can't do. I'm on TV, but it's shallow and bull****. We are not solving the Afghanistan problem. There are amazing people out there - surgeons, inventors.'

This season we have seen Webber accomplish things we did not think he was capable of. Vettel was the pre-ordained star, with Webber an experienced points scorer.

But Webber has outperformed the golden German, who will seek redress in his fatherland during next weekend's grand prix at Hockenheim.

'We've got two of us at the front,' says Webber. 'It's a sensational problem to have. I could be at the stage of my career when I say, "It's fine, mate, I don't really care," but unfortunately - or fortunately - I can't do that.'

by Jonathan McEvoy, dailymail.co.uk, July 17