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Mark Alan Webber (born August 27 , 1976 ) is an Australia n Formula One driver. He is currently driving for the WilliamsF1 team after starting in F1 in 2002 , having stints at Jaguar Racing and Minardi . Webber's best finish in Formula One is third place at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix . EARLY CAREER Mark Webber was born in Queanbeyan , New South Wales , son of Alan, the local Motorcycle dealer. He started his relationship with sport young, working as a ball-boy for premiership winning Rugby League team the Canberra Raiders during the late 1980s . However, Motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champion Alain Prost and Grand Prix Motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz as his childhood heroes. Starting out racing motorcycles, Webber moved to four wheels in 1991 , taking up Karting at the relatively late age of 15. He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993 , and moved straight into the Australian Formula Ford Championship after his father bought him an ex- Craig Lowndes Van Diemen FF1600. Working as a driving instructor at Sydney 's Oran Park between races, Webber finished 14th overall in his debut season. Continuing in the series in 1995 , Webber scored several victories, including a win in the support race for the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide . He finished the series in fourth place, but perhaps more importantly, teamed up with Championship co-ordinator Ann Neal, who secured him a seven-year sponsorship with Australian Yellow Pages , and would become his manager and accompany him on a trip to England in an attempt to start a career in Europe . Webber was given a test at Snetterton with the Van Diemen team, and subsequently earned a works drive for the team at the 1995 Formula Ford Festival , held at Brands Hatch . He finished third in his first international race, a result good enough to see him retained by the team for the 1996 Championship. Before moving to Europe permanently, Webber won the Formula Holden race at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne . During the 1996 British Formula Ford Championship, Webber took four victories on his way to second place overall, finishing his season strongly with a win in the Formula Ford Festival. He also won the Spa-Francorchamps race of the Formula Ford Euro Cup, taking third in the series despite competing in only two of the three rounds. His results throughout the year saw him voted as Australian motorsport's "Young Achiever" and "International Achiever" of 1996. Two days after his Festival victory, Webber completed a successful test for Alan Docking Racing , and was signed by the team to graduate to Formula Three in 1997 . Without the financial backing he had enjoyed during his time in Formula Ford, Webber and his team struggled to find the money to fund their championship campaign. He was almost forced to quit halfway through the season, but was able to obtain personal support from Australian Rugby Union legend David Campese , which helped him to complete the year. Webber took victory in just his fourth ever F3 race, at Brands Hatch, leading from start to finish and setting a new lap record in the process. He took a further four podium finishes, including a second place in the support race for the 1997 British Grand Prix , and finished the season in fourth overall. Webber also took strong finishes in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort (3rd) and the F3 Macao Grand Prix (4th), both times making his circuit debut. During the 1997 season, Webber was approached by Mercedes-AMG to participate in a Sports Car race. He initially declined the offer, but at the end of the year he was invited to participate in a test session for the team at A1-Ring in Austria . AMG were suitably impressed with Webber, and he was signed as the official Mercedes works junior driver for the 1998 FIA GT Championship , alongside reigning champion Bernd Schneider . Travelling around the world, including the United States , Japan and Europe, the pair won five of the ten rounds on their way to second in the overall standings, remarkably beaten to the Championship by teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta by just 8 seconds in the final race at Laguna Seca . Webber remained with the AMG team for 1999 , and was promoted to his own race car for the season. However, his sportscar career came to an early end after he flipped twice on the straight in the lead up to the 24 Hours Of Le Mans race that year. An aerodynamic fault on the team's cars caused Webber to spectacularly become airborne during both practice and race-day warm up, with the same fate befalling teammate Peter Dumbreck five hours into the race. Both drivers escaped uninjured, but the crashes forced Mercedes to shelve their sportscar program for the year and Webber to reconsider a return to Open Wheel racing. Webber spoke to Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan , who introduced him to fellow Australian Paul Stoddart . Stoddart offered to undercut the necessary $1.1 million budget for Webber, and gave him a drive in his Eurobet Arrows Formula 3000 team for 2000 . As a result, Webber also got his first taste of a Formula One Car , completing a two-day test at Barcelona in December 1999 for the Arrows F1 team. Webber was signed as test driver for the Arrows F1 team for 2000, and also gained sponsorship from Australian Beer company Foster's whilst competing in the F3000 Championship.1 Webber took victory in round two of the season at Silverstone Circuit , and finished the series with two fastest laps and three podiums on his way to third overall - the highest position of any rookie that year.2 Contract issues meant that Webber was never able to drive the Arrows A21 car, and rejected an offer of a full contract for 2001 in July. However, he was offered a three day evaluation test for Benetton at the end of the year, outpacing F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella at Estoril . The results were good enough to earn him the test driver role with the team for 2001, and he also agreed to take on team boss Flavio Briatore as manager in return for finance for a further F3000 season. Webber joined the championship-winning Super Nova Racing team, and despite winning at Imola , Monaco and Magny-Cours , he finished second overall to British driver Justin Wilson .3 Webber was replaced as test driver for Benetton for 2002 by Fernando Alonso , but Briatore managed to secure Webber a contract to race alongside Alex Yoong in the Stoddart-owned Minardi team, making him the first Australian in Formula One since David Brabham in 1994. FORMULA ONE CAREER 2002 Webber made his Formula One debut at his home race, the for the following season, alongside Brazil ian Williams test driver Antônio Pizzonia .9 2003 Webber's Jaguar career started disappointingly, as he qualified in 14th place for the of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello ), and finished in 7th.17 After the British Grand Prix , which Webber finished 14th, he had scored 12 Championship points compared to Pizzonia's 0, and after much speculation it was announced that Minardi driver Justin Wilson would replace the Brazilian for the remainder of the year. The German Grand Prix saw Webber's sixth retirement for the season, after he made a desperate last lap lunge on Jenson Button in an attempt to salvage a point from the weekend.18 Consecutive points finishes in Hungary and Italy saw Webber climb to ninth in the drivers' standings, with a 5 point margin to Button. He was unable to hold onto his position however, as one too many laps on dry tyres saw him spin out from the lead of the United States Grand Prix , and a disappointing 11th-place result in the Japanese Grand Prix meant he finished on equal points with Button, but lost out on a countback.19 Although Wilson scored a point in the United States Grand Prix, Webber had still never been outqualified by a teammate, and late in the year, Jaguar announced that rookie Christian Klien would team up with Webber for the 2004 Season . Webber's results again earned him plaudits in the press, winning the 2003 "Driver of the Year" award from ''Autocar'' magazine.20 2004 Continuing with Jaguar in 2004, Webber qualified sixth fastest for the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix , but faced his second consecutive retirement from his home race, this time due to a Gearbox failure. The following race, the Malaysian Grand Prix , Webber produced the best qualifying performance of his career, splitting the dominant Ferraris to line up 2nd on the grid. The race was disappointing though, a stall at the start meaning he was well outside the top 10 by the time the cars reached turn 1. An aggressive lap saw him move up to ninth place, but during an exciting battle with Ralf Schumacher , the German collided with him and forced Webber to pit with damage to his front wing and tyre. In his desperation to make up for the lost time, Webber exceeded the pitlane speed limit and was handed a drive-through penalty, which left him even further behind. More frustration eventually led to the end of his race, as he spun into the gravel trap on the outside of the final corner on lap 23. The situation improved for the following race in Bahrain though, as Webber picked up his first point for the season despite a small mistake in qualifying which left him in 14th and marked the first time he had been outqualified by his teammate in F1.21 He was unable to continue his pointscoring form, however, as intermittent electrical problems in San Marino and a lack of grip in Spain meant that he could do no better than 13th and 12th in those races. Amid Jaguar's announcements of special one-race sponsorship deals with movie ''. Webber lined up 14th on the grid after being handed a one-second penalty for yellow flag infringements during Friday practice,22 but was able to move through the field to take his points tally to 3. After the race he was criticised by Michael Schumacher for refusing to yield after Webber emerged from his Pit Stop slightly ahead of (but one lap behind) Schumacher,23 although after hearing the comments, Webber said he "would do exactly the same again" in the same situation.24 at the 2004 United States Grand Prix ]] Consecutive retirements in , followed by a first-lap accident in Belgium , 9th in Italy and 10th in China saw him sitting 13th in the Championship. The penultimate race of the season in Japan saw Webber produce another good qualifying effort as he set the third fastest time, but his race ended prematurely as he suffered from a badly overheating cockpit, the cause of which could not be determined by Jaguar.30 The Chinese Grand Prix marked Webber's last race for Jaguar, and Jaguar's last in Formula One, but it ended sadly for the team, as Klien turned in on and collided with Webber as the Australian attempted to make up for a pit stop delay earlier in the race. Webber was forced to retire due to the damage and watched the remainder of the race from the grass on the outside of turn 1 as Klien finished 14th. Webber was granted an early release from his Jaguar contract to be allowed to test with his new team Williams over the winter. Williams had announced earlier that Jenson Button would drive for the team in 2005 alongside Webber, but after claims the Brit was still contracted to BAR , his contract with Williams was overturned. With his new teammate undecided, and apparently going down to a "shootout" between Nick Heidfeld and Pizzonia, Webber hit back at Pizzonia's claims of unfair treatment during 2003, claiming the Brazilian was lying and saying he was a "loser" for believing that there was favouritism towards Webber,31 comments which led to a reprimand from his new team.32 2005 before the start of the 2005 season]] Heidfeld was finally announced as Webber's 2005 teammate at the Williams season launch on , an injury he had sustained during pre-season testing at Barcelona , though he "didn't want to make a fuss" about it and would be fully fit in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix .36 After qualifying fifth in Bahrain, a mistake under pressure from was affected by this result, as Webber was only able to qualify 14th, but he was pleased with an eventual 5th-place finish and a further 4 Championship points.39 The United States Grand Prix (where only 6 cars took part) was the beginning of a lean streak for Webber, with just one pointscoring finish in the next seven races, a seventh in Hungary , but by this stage he had slipped from 6th to 10th in the World Championship. With Heidfeld injured, Webber's former Jaguar teammate Antônio Pizzonia stepped into the second Williams seat, with added pressure on Webber to perform well given the public argument the pair had towards the end of 2004. The , spun into Webber to force extensive repairs to the Australian's car.41 Webber eventually finished 17th and set the race's 8th fastest lap,42 but was not classified as a finisher. The final two races of the season saw Webber take 4th and 7th to consolidate his 10th place in the Drivers' Championship. Webber described the 2005 season as "frustrating" and acknowledged that his reputation had somewhat diminished,43 but he opted to stay on with Williams despite an offer from BMW Sauber.44 Webber's teammate for 2006 would be German Nico Rosberg , becoming the seventh different driver to partner Webber since 2002. 2006 For the first time in Webber's career, the first race of the season was not held in Melbourne , and instead was in Bahrain . Webber qualified 7th and had a solid race to finish 6th and pick up 3 Championship points. Although Webber was considered by some to have the better race performance,45 this was generally overlooked for the fact that Rosberg set the fastest lap in his debut race and moved through the field well after a first-lap incident.46 The following two races, in Malaysia and Australia were cut short due to mechanical problems. In Malaysia, Webber started 4th on the grid and was still running in that position before a Hydraulics failure ended his race on lap 14. In his home race, Webber qualified seventh and was leading the race (before his first Pit Stop ) when his Gearbox failed on lap 22.47 Season summaries
Complete Formula One results () OUTSIDE MOTORSPORT Webber lives in Aylesbury , Buckinghamshire , England with his girlfriend/manager Ann Neal.48 Outside motorsport, Webber enjoys "most outdoor pursuits" including Road Cycling , Mountain Biking , Tennis and fitness training. He has won the annual F1 Pro-Am tennis tournament in Barcelona three times (2002, 2004 and 2005), coming runner-up to Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003.4950 Charity Challenge In November 2003, Webber set up and competed in a 10-day trek across Tasmania in an attempt to raise funds for children's Cancer research charities. Starting in Marrawah on the state's west coast, the trek involved 1,000 km of cycling, Kayaking and trekking along the southern coast and finished at Coles Bay in the east. Four teams of four competitors each started the trek, with only two teams (including Webber's) completing the entire journey.51 Along the way, Australian sporting stars Pat Rafter , Steve Waugh , Cathy Freeman , James Tomkins , Guy Andrews and actor Joel Edgerton completed certain parts of the trek. The challenge concluded with a Black Tie dinner and Auction to raise funds. Webber said he was driven to organise the event after the death of his grandfather to cancer, as well as his experiences with friends whose children had battled the disease.52 With Webber's switch from Jaguar to Williams at the end of 2004, the challenge was postponed until 2006, when he was able to secure a three-year deal with the Tasmanian Government to hold the event.53 In 2006 the event (now named the "Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge") will be over six days and 600 km, with up to 12 teams competing.54 In addition to funds raised by the challenge, Webber has announced that all proceeds from his 2006 merchandise range will be given to cancer charities through his "Mark Webber Challenge Foundation".55 TRIVIA
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