Minichamps 1:18

Mark Webber

Red Bull Racing - Renault RB6

2010 F1 Season Car

Mark Alan Webber (August 27th 1976 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales) is an Australian racing driver.

In 2010 he stayed with Vettel at Red Bull. After a slow start with the 8 th place in Bahrain and the 9 th in Australia he finished second in Malaysia after gaining the Pole Position at practice. After the 8 th place in China he gained the Pole Position in Spain and also won the race. A week later he started from Pole at the Grand Prix of Monaco, won the race and took over as first seed in the drivers' championship. During the both victories he led all the way. At the Grand Prix of Turkey everything seemed like a victory by Webber again, but then he a collision with Vettel in lead position. In contrast to his team mate he was able to continue the race and after a repair pit stop he finished third. After the race there was some discussion concerning the origin of the collision, both riders blamed each other.

After a fifth place in Canada he lost the overall lead to Lewis Hamilton and at the Grand Prix of Europe he had to retire after a collision with Heikki Kovalainen. Kovalainen had to brake earlier than expected and so Webber crashed into him, took off and ended in the out of bounds area. He left his car without any injuries. It was his first retirement during the whole year. At the Grand Prix of Britain another argument between Vettel and Webber broke out, since Vettel was supplied with some new aerodynamic parts, while Webber was not. Nonetheless Webber won the race and in the later interviews he was critical concerning the current team situation. After a sixth place at the Grand Prix of Germany and a victory at Hungary he took over the overall lead in the World Championship again, but only finished second behind Hamilton at the Grand Prix of Belgium and again had to give up the overall lead to the British driver.

At the Grand Prix of Italia the lead in the drivers World Championship changed again, as Webber finished first after he was only sixth in practice. Great attention was a collision with Hamilton who then had to retire from the race. At the Grand Prix of Japan he finished second behind Vettel.

But only one race later he lost the overall lead again, this time to Fernando Alonso, since Webber lost control of his car during the rain and had to retire. At the second last race in Brazil he finished second behind Vettel. The team did not use any kind of team order, which would have given Webber the better chances to achieve his first ever World Championship. In second place in the overall ranking he entered the final race in Abu Dhabi. He started in fifth place and only reached the eighth place at the end of the race. As a result he was not able to overcome the point deficit in order to beat Alonso. Since Vettel won the race he overtook both Webber and Alonso and won the Drivers' Championship title. Webber finished third overall and achieved his best result in Formula 1 so far.

At the end of the 2010 season Webber admitted that he participated in the last four races of the year with a small fracture in his shoulder bone. He had injured himself during a mountain bike accident in Australia. The injury, which according to Webber, did not distract him during the last four races and there was no need for surgery.