For years, Mark Webber has carried the hopes, but more often suffered the disappointment, of Australian fans. While Webber fans get that much of his career in F1 was spent in uncompetitive cars, Webber’s lack of luck earned him more hate than support from non-enthusiasts.
The haters have got to realise though that it’s significant that Webber has remained in demand for 12 seasons, he ended up in the best team in F1. It’s understandable that he’d want to leave on a high.
In a pre-race interview with Channel 10 this morning Webber spoke about his last drivers briefing, which surely would have been an emotional one. He made a speech, got praise from the other drivers, some of which he’s been in tremendous battles on circuits all around the world, in difficult conditions with extreme highs and lows. Check: Supercheap Catalogue.
Whilst he didn’t place first in his last race (no guesses to who won the race this morning) Mark Webber has the satisfaction of finishing his final grand prix with the quickest lap of the race with a 1:15.436 on lap 51 resulting in third place in the driver’s championship.
As Webber crossed the finish line, his pit board read, “Awesome, thank you Mark.”. Fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo will take over Webber’s seat at Red Bull next year, he’s got massive shoes to fill!