Mark Webber · Biography

Mark Alan Webber was born on 27 August 1976 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, just outside Canberra. He started karting there in 1991, and it was from there that he moved up to single-seaters. He raced 12 seasons in Formula One, from 2002 to 2013, with Minardi, Jaguar, Williams and Red Bull Racing, and won nine Grands Prix. He then switched to endurance racing with Porsche and became World Endurance Champion in 2015.

From karting to Formula Ford

Webber began karting in 1991 at 14, and in 1992 he won the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales state titles. He took the Canberra Cup in 1993. In his first season of the Australian Formula Ford Championship, in 1994, he finished 14th. In 1995 he was fourth, with three wins and 158 points. In 1996 he moved to England and finished runner-up in British Formula Ford with four wins, and third in the European Formula Ford Championship that same year.

Formula Three, Mercedes and Formula 3000

In 1997 he contested British Formula Three with Alan Docking Racing. He finished fourth on 131 points and was named Rookie of the Year. Mercedes signed him for the 1998 FIA GT Championship, where he finished runner-up with AMG behind his Mercedes stablemates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta. Le Mans went badly. In 1998 he retired after 75 minutes with a mechanical failure. In 1999 his Mercedes became airborne because of an aerodynamic problem, first in qualifying and again in the race-morning warm-up, and the team withdrew the car. In 2000 he moved to International Formula 3000 with European Arrows. He won at Silverstone, becoming the first Australian to win in the series, and finished third overall. In 2001, with Super Nova Racing, he won at Imola, Monaco and Magny-Cours and was runner-up to Justin Wilson.

Minardi, Jaguar and Williams

His Formula One debut came at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne with Minardi. He finished fifth on debut, scoring two points for a team that rarely scored any. In 2003 he joined Jaguar and finished tenth in the championship with 17 points. In 2004 he was 13th, with sixth place at the European Grand Prix his best result. He moved to Williams in 2005 and took his first podium with third at Monaco, finishing the year tenth on 36 points. In 2006 he scored only seven points and finished 14th.

Red Bull Racing and the first wins

In 2007 he joined Red Bull Racing, the team he would drive for until he left Formula One. He was third at the European Grand Prix in his first season and 12th in the championship, then 11th in 2008. The change came in 2009. At the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring he took his first pole position and first victory in the same race, and he won again in Brazil later that year. He finished fourth in the championship with 69.5 points.

The 2010 title fight and his final F1 seasons

In 2010 he won in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary. He arrived at the final round in Abu Dhabi still in contention for the title but finished eighth. The championship went to his teammate Sebastian Vettel, and Webber ended up third on 242 points. He was third again in 2011 with 258 points, his best points total, and won the Brazilian Grand Prix. In 2012 he won at Monaco and Silverstone and finished sixth. In 2013 he took eight podiums without a win and was third once more, on 199 points. At that year's Malaysian Grand Prix, Vettel overtook him despite a team instruction to hold position, an incident that drew wide attention. Webber left Formula One at the end of 2013 with 215 starts, 9 wins, 13 poles, 42 podiums, 19 fastest laps and 1,047.5 points.

Porsche and the endurance world title

In 2014 he joined Porsche's LMP1 programme in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). He finished ninth in his first year, which ended with a heavy crash at the 6 Hours of São Paulo. He was hit by Matteo Cressoni's Ferrari and suffered a lung contusion and concussion. In 2015, sharing the car with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, he became World Endurance Champion with 166 points and finished second at the Le Mans 24 Hours. He was fourth in 2016 and retired from racing at the end of that season. His WEC record was 25 starts, 8 wins and 15 podiums. In 2017 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.