Mark Webber could be forgiven for wanting to pinch himself just to make sure that the past year hasn’t been a dream. This is not surprising really, for a driver who, in his quest to become the first Australian in over a decade to hold down a regular place in Formula 1, has managed to attract the patronage of two very different sporting giants – the Aussie Rugby Union star David Campese and Mercedes sports chief Norbert Haug.
“Every morning when I wake up I’m so happy,” admits 21-year-old Webber, who began 1997 struggling to raise the budget to graduate to the British Formula 3 Championship and ended it on the same Mercedes junior programme that pushed Michael Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jan Magnussen into F1.
“I remember when I was karting looking at pictures of Schumacher, Frentzen and [Karl] Wendlinger [who formed Mercedes’s junior sportscar squad of the early ’90s], and thinking ‘imagine that’. And here I am now, being looked after by Mercedes.”
Webber is happy to admit that without finance first from Campese and then Mercedes he would never have completed an F3 campaign that saw him finish fourth in the British championship as well as in the end-of-season Macau Grand Prix blue riband. “David [Campese] dug me out once,” he says, “and then Mercedes dug me out again in the middle of the season.
“After I won the Formula Ford Festival at the end of 1996, I needed to build a profile in Australia to try to help with sponsorship to take me into British F3,” he explains. “I wanted a link with David that I could dangle in front of sponsors. The connection with David is that we are both from the same place in New South Wales; in fact, we were born in the same hospital in Queanbeyan. When we got in contact, he said that he was setting up a sports marketing company.”
Webber explains that, although Campese’s company made a not insignificant contribution to his F3 budget, the coffers were all but empty after five races in the Autosport-backed British F3 series. “I’d put my head on the block and taken a lot of risks to do F3, but our backs were firmly against the wall even though we’d managed to get some good results.
Webber grabbed attention winning the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 1996
Photo by: Andre Vor / Sutton Images
“Then I had the best phone call a young driver can ever receive: it was Norbert Haug to say he wanted me to do a test in the CLK-GTR,” says Webber, he had introduced himself to the Three-Pointed Star’s sports boss at the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the year. “Mercedes really did save my F3 season. And they did that after seeing me drive for only 40 laps. And they were in the wet.”
Haug appears to have been impressed not only by Webber’s success in Formula Ford and then F3 but by the fact that he made his “own way without lots of sponsorship”. The Australian has all the “basic ingredients” according to his new boss. “If you win the Festival, that speaks for you,” claims Haug. “Mark is also very mature for his age, which I think is quite important.”
Three tests on from his debut in the CLK-GTR, Webber is now looking forward to the start of the FIA GT Championship at Oschersleben near Berlin in two weeks’ time. Talk of him joining Nick Heidfeld, another Mercedes-backed youngster, in the McLaren-run West Competition Formula 3000 squad or even Bertram Schafer Racing in the German F3 Championship was pure “newspaper talk”, he says.
“I’ve been employed to help Mercedes defend its FIA titles from last year, but I want to be challenging strongly to win races. As far as my career is concerned, Mercedes will reward if the driver performs”
“I’m happy to be racing the CLK; it’s going to be a fantastic experience. If you ask me if I’d prefer to be racing a GT or an F3 car, I’d say the GT because of the power,” says Webber, in reference to the CLK-GTR’s seven-litre V12, which is believed to push out well in excess of 600bhp. “What is important is that these cars are still very quick. You are braking very late and aerodynamics play an important role.”
All good experience for a driver with F1 aspirations, or even one looking to follow another Mercedes junior, Dario Franchitti, into the CART Championship Series. But Webber says he isn’t mapping out his future quite yet.
“I’m going to take each test and each race as it comes, and see how things pan out. I’ve got a lot to learn in GT racing, such as dealing with traffic. The races are going to be completely different to the 20-lappers I’m used to from F3. But it’s all going to be good experience for whatever I do afterwards, even if I end up doing GTs for 20 years.”
Later in the year, Webber would start in the polesitting Mercedes at the Le Mans 24 Hours but would retire after just 19 laps
Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images
Haug, too, won’t be drawn on what the Three-Pointed Star has in store for Webber. It is worth pointing out, though, that the Aussie is a full member of the factory AMG squad, whereas the reigning F3000 International Champion Ricardo Zonta has to make do with a seat with Persson Motorsport, which is effectively Mercedes’s semi-works team in the FIA series.
“There is no plan,” says Haug, who has teamed Webber with fellow junior Marcel Tiemann. “That would be completely wrong. Mark is in a very good team and has the chance to present himself in a good way. If he does that, then we will have to start thinking about the next step. I won’t say that Mark is going to end up in F1, but there might be a chance if he is strong enough.”
Webber, however, makes no secret of his F1 aspirations. “I’m very competitive and very hungry, so I will be disappointed if I don’t fulfil the final dream. But on the other hand I’ve had so many dreams fulfilled already: coming to race in England; winning the Festival; and then doing F3.
“I’ve been employed to help Mercedes defend its FIA titles from last year, but I want to be challenging strongly to win races. As far as my career is concerned, Mercedes will reward if the driver performs – and I’m up for the challenge.”
Webber ended 1998 as runner-up for Mercedes in the FIA GT championship
Photo by: Ralph Hardwick