Mark Webber

I'm a little puzzled as to why Webber doesn't have a page in the teams and drivers section, as Webber is a pivotal figure in the story upfront. There are questions that need to be asked. Why can Vettel win, and Webber struggle to get on the podium fighting Ferraris and McLarens? Why is the man that was noted as a good qualifier unable to get near Vettel? Did the leg break in late 2008 do him serious performance damage? and What should Webber do in the near future?

Mark Webber. Over to you...

 

[teabagyokel]

Eh? He looked on a comparable pace when he was going full whack at Vettel was cruising.

He's not done anything special there, save for somehow not finishing 2nd in that car for all four years.

 

[Speshal]

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

What about Australia 2002? He made it to the podium on a Minardi!

I know, I know, it wasn't for real but still pretty cool

What a nice pair of bookends ...

 

[Kewee]

At Abu Dhabi RBR knew that Ferrari would cover any move Webber made. Is it just possible that they hung Webber out to dry knowing that this would also screw Alonso and hand the championship to their favoured driver?

Red Bull often hung Webber out to dry, they were masters at doing so without anyone noticing.

 

[Kewee]

I wonder how much higher both Sterling Moss and Stirling Moss would be if their two scores were added together.

The same as Button. He would have been a multiple champion if you added Jensen and Jenson's points together.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives Please put that on another thread no doubt No 1 and No 2 would probably be Moss and G Villeneuve

I think Webber would make top 50 but just not top 20 drivers who were never world champions

 

[Plutus]

Who are your Top 20 drivers that never won a world championship, Il_leone?

 

[FB]

Errm, Mark Webber thread boys and girls.

 

[Lewywo4]

Who are your Top 20 drivers that never won a world championship, Il_leone?

Plutus......I don't have any idea who ll_leone would pick, but Dan Gurney surely would be near the top of my list.

 

[teabagyokel]

Top 20 drivers to never win the World Title, interesting idea... could be a thread in its own right. I think it's fair to say these guys are ahead of Webber:

• Moss, S
• Villeneuve, G
• Reutemann, C
• Gurney, D
• Pironi, D
• Peterson, R
• Cevert, F
• Amon, C
• Kubica, R

I think he goes into a category below them lot with the likes of Felipe Massa and Wolfgang Von Trips...

 

[Kewee]

Everyone who has entered this thread is showing an interest in Mark Webber. We should all go to BBC Sport and read every word of the article written by Andrew Benson titled "Formula One enriched by enduring career of Mark Webber". It's a wonderful article that sums up the man, his values and his career. There is nothing more anyone could add and it's wonderful to leave out the invented negatives and respect Mark Webber for who he really was.

 

[teabagyokel]

A wonderful ambassador for F1? Certainly. A great spokesman for sport in general? Yes. A top bloke? I couldn't argue.

I don't think there is any evidence suggesting he's a top Grand Prix driver.

 

[Mephistopheles]

What about Australia 2002? He made it to the podium on a Minardi!

I know, I know, it wasn't for real but still pretty cool

Errr no he didn't he finished 5th and there were a lot of retirements to help him, in qualifying he was 4 seconds off pole....

 

[Plutus]

There is no evidence that he is a top Grand Prix driver? Have you not been watching F1 for the past 10 years?

We must not forget that he is 37 years old and was on top of his game as Vettel joined Red Bull in 2009. I think we can agree that Webber cannot be compared to the likes of M. Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso or Button but he still is a top driver.
The timing of Vettels arrival at Red Bull just makes the difference between an old F1 driver at the end of his peak and young F1 driver with a huge potential stand out even more.

What makes a top driver if Webber isn't one? What else does it need?

 

[FB]

Winning more races in a car that is the class of the field?

 

[teabagyokel]

The team-mates he beat in his career were Yoong, Pizzonia, a rookie Rosberg and DC almost post mortem.

At the top of his game in 2009 he was beaten heavily by a team-mate who spent half his time in the wall.

He was top dog for May in 2010 when he was on three of his favourite tracks and Vettel had a crack in his chassis.

But my big problem is that he managed to never finish 2nd in the Championship, even with the Red Bulls of 2011 and 2013; Barrichello and Patrese managed that and I'm not holding them at the top standard.

 

[sushifiesta]

Saw this on reddit a few days back:

 

[The Pits]

Does this show that the season with Rosberg at Williams that they only both finished three races out of 18?

 

[teabagyokel]

The Pits - I didn't realise they were that poor.

I suspect I know how good Vettel is, I'm not impressed with Coulthard in 2007/08, Klien and Yoong and Pizzonia are shit. So essentially the question we're asking to try to calibrate Webber is: how good is Nick Heidfeld?

 

[sushifiesta]

Looking back at the 2006 results I think it should be four not three but they did have a ridiculous number of retirements that year.