Mark Webber |
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Mark Alan Webber (born 27 August 1976 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales) is an Australian Formula One driver. In 2002 he became the first Australian to race in Formula One since David Brabham in 1994. At the 2009 German Grand Prix, he became the first Australian to win a race since Alan Jones in 1981.
After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the UK in 1995 to further his motorsport career. He continued to win, although he gained his biggest headlines while driving for the Mercedes-Benz sports car squad at Le Mans in 1999 where he had two spectacular accidents during practice and warm-up in which an aerodynamic fault caused the car to somersault off the Mulsanne Straight. After Mercedes' withdrawal from the race, Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European Racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team.
Webber made his debut in Formula One in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. After his first season Jaguar Racing took him on as lead driver. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team Webber several times qualified on the front two rows of the grid and outperformed his team mates. His first F1 win was the 2009 German Grand Prix, which followed second places at the 2009 Chinese, Turkish, and British Grands Prix.