Will Mark Webber fulfil his destiny and join the ranks of Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones and become the next Australian star in Formula One?
Will Mark Webber fulfil his destiny and join the ranks of Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones and become the next Australian star in Formula One? Over the last few years it with every step in his career it seems as though everybody is assuming that he will make it to F1, it is only a matter of when.
My first recollection of Mark is of a Formula Ford in the bright yellow of his long time sponsor Yellow Pages, starting from the back of the grid in a race at Philip Island. He made spectacular progress through the field in very difficult conditions, marking him as a driver to watch.
He has had what is now the conventional path in motor sport. He started off in karting before moving to Formula Ford in Australia then in England. This led to a drive for 1997 in the prestigious British Formula Three series where he was an instant front runner. His efforts caught the eye of the Mercedes sports car team and his signing as junior driver joining Scuhmacher, Frentzen, and Franchitti, who have also driven for this team.
He teamed up with another fellow Australian, Paul Stoddart, to contest the F3000 series. This has lead to Mark becoming the official Benneton Formula One test driver as well as being a F3000 front runner.
Curiously Mark has won very little in the way of series and races. The pattern seems to be that he has shown so much promise as soon as he as entered a class that he has moved on straight away to the next one.
As important as driving skills are; Mark has the knack, or luck, to be able to attract sponsors and patrons to fund his motor racing career. There are many drivers in Australia who simply didn’t have the backing to match their talent, Marcus Ambrose for example.
It is important for all aspiring Australian F1 drivers that Mark succeeds. The credibility Wayne Gardner gave to Australian motorcycle racing paved the way for World Champions Mick Doohan and Troy Corser.
Tags: driver, Formula One, motor sport