F1 Fanatic

Hi. Thanks for this forum. Something that has been bugging me for a while. And I had to share it otherwise I was going to explode. I think Mark Webber is great/ amazing. He’s a true sporting gentleman (not many left) and an inspiration – he plays/ drives fair and plays within the rules (gives way where necessary/ not selfish). If you look at his career…he was basically getting older and not getting anywhere, then he decided to change his tactics and is now leading the championship. Truly remarkable. How did he do it…I’m sure there are a few factors…but my thoughts…He believed in himself and decided to stand up for himself (i.e not be bullied/ intimidated by those younger ####’s – some of the top 5 drivers – who I personally think are arrogant, precious, self-righteous punks). And this folks is why these drivers loathe/ hate Mark (they’d written him off)…if you see the post-race interviews its written all over their faces and in their body language. They have NO RESPECT AT ALL for Mark. All i can say to Mark is – F$CK THEM and F*CK them hard!(and to those in your team that want you to act as N0.2 – screw them also, but with a smile). As an Australian, it’s fantastic to see Mark do so well, because there aren’t many Australian champions in this sport. Anyway…I think i’ve made my point. Thanks again for providing the column, keep racing and here’s to Mark.

I actually think that Mark is one of the only drivers who gets along with most of the other drivers. There is a lot of respect there, and he is a great spokesperson for the drivers. This may have shifted a bit with Mark becoming a title contender, but I think a large part of the reason why Lewis’ response after the last race was so muted was because his incident involved Mark – if it had involved Sebastian or somebody else, I don’t doubt that there would have been a lot of criticism from Lewis and Maclaren directed at the other driver.

I have always liked Mark (not just because he is Australian) – and I really hope he takes the WDC this year because he deserves it. He has risen to the challenge this year against a much fancied team mate in Vettel, and has performed extremely well under pressure (a lot of last-lap Q3 qualifying runs) and been very consistant (only one DNF and always in the points this year).

For the first time since following Mark, I have upmost faith in his abilities which is re-assuring. Even when he started 5th in Singapore I knew he would make a race of it.

I don’t think it’s true that the other drivers don’t like Mark but having said that, I think it’s true that some don’t respect him. I know that he and Alonso are very good friends as are he and Barrichello. I guess it just shows that the old boys have to stick together. :)

I think it would be great for F1 if Mark became champion. It’s kind of like the concept of the American Dream, that anyone from anywhere can rise to the top. Mark is a very solid driver and at his best unbeatable in equal machinery, but if you were to name the fastest guy, or the driver with the best racecraft, etc. you probably wouldn’t pick Mark as top in any of those fields. Yet he has an excellent chance of being champion.

I am going against the flow here by saying I feel he is a good driver, not a great. He is in a very good car and can produce performances in the best car out there. He was outperformed by Heidfeld in 05, Coulthard in 07, Vettel in 09, two of these are good, not good. He outperformed Klein (great?, no) in 04, a poor Pizzonia in 03, a running-out-of-steam Coulthard in 08. I’ll admit, his first season was great, and some performances this season have been good, but so has Vettel, unluckier with reliabilty. If he won this year, my congratulations would go to Newey, not Webber. Alonso has been great, as has Hamilton and Button to a lesser extent.

If Webber were to win this season, I wouldn’t record him as a true great.

Nik, this is totally off topic, but whenever I see one of your comments on the site I crack up at your Busey avatar. Classic.

I would just find it interesting of the season outcome if say Alonso or Hamilton was in the Red Bull, title over already? Mark is a good driver but that’s it, Vettel is superior for pure pace but of course is very wreckless. I won’t give him any respect if Mark wins the WDC, he’s not exactly against all odds is he? Raikkonen to replace him next year would be brilliant.

Didn’t Mark do something like 40 consecutive races before he was outqualified by a team mate? It may not be that high a number but I read it somewhere a few years ago and thought that was pretty impressive.