Webber Becomes A Winner
By Ian Lockwood
July 12 2009
Mark Webber secured his first Formula One win at the German Grand Prix. Marks win was no easy cruise, having been given a dubious drive through penalty after an incident with Rubens Barrichello before the first corner. Team mate Sebastian Vettel made it a perfect afternoon for Red Bull Racing by coming home in second place.
Car 14 MARK WEBBER, Finish Position: WINNER! Start Position: 1st
“It’s an incredible day. I wanted to win so badly after Silverstone, as I thought I had a good chance there, then after yesterday’s pole I knew I was in a good position to try and win the race today. The only thing that I thought was going to test me was the rain, but even that held off. It was testing to get the victory today, I lost Rubens completely at the start; I thought he was gone a little bit to the left so I went to the right and banged into him. That’s not normally my style and I got a drive-through penalty for that, so had to recover. My engineer kept me calm and I pushed as hard as I could when I needed to, so it’s a great day. It was a difficult winter, Sebastian showed in winter testing what the car could do, so that kept my motivation very high when I was hurting a lot with all the rehab. I had great people around me to recover from all the injuries I had and the team have been incredibly patient with me as well. I want to thank Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull and everyone at Red Bull Racing for what they did for me over the winter, everyone in Australia who has supported me on the way through my career – and there are a few people that doubted me too, so hello to them as well. It’s just an incredible day for all the people who have helped me get to where I am today.”
Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: 2nd. Start Position: 4th
“Congratulations to Mark, he was unbeatable today – he was quicker than all of us, so he totally deserved to win. I’m very happy with the result and in the end it was a good recovery. It was quite a bad start and I had all the KERS cars around me – I got passed by both the McLarens and even Felipe (Massa). It was quite difficult to start fourth and go into the first corner in eighth or something. I then struggled a lot with the soft tyre in the first stint and was in a lot of traffic. I could have gone quicker, but there was no way to pass Felipe, as he always used the special button when I was quite close. Therefore I was lucky to have the right strategy, as that pulled us back to second position but Felipe didn’t stop pushing, so it was hard until the end of the race. We had to fight, but it’s another one-two finish for the team and I’m happy. I’d be lying if I said I’m very pleased with second, as of course I wanted to win, but yesterday Mark did a better job and that’s why today he totally deserves the win – it’s a good fight between us, so I’m looking forward to the next races.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal:
“A brilliant team performance. A fantastic drive from Mark – he’s been on it all weekend and, after all the difficulties that he’s been through over the winter, I’m absolutely delighted that’s he’s managed to get his first win. He thoroughly deserves it. Sebastian recovered from a difficult first lap and put in an excellent performance to back up Mark’s win with a second place. A one-two is a brilliant team result and puts us back in the hunt in both championships. It was an important result for the team, but today belongs to Mark Webber, who is a deserved victor.”
FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support:
“I’m so, so, so happy. What a race! It was a difficult beginning with a drive-through penalty and starts that were not great, but our car and engine package is so good that we recovered from there to finish first and second – for the second time in a row – it’s just magic. I’m so happy for Mark, he deserves his first win. We cannot stop thinking about Pierre-Emeric and I want to dedicate Mark’s first victory to him - I’m sure he is watching us from above and he would be very happy about what happened today. I’m happy for the team and now let’s push for the title.”
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Red Bull's man gets just deserts for driving through the pain
Mark Webber sealed his comeback from off-season injury with a battling maiden win at the Nürburgring that saw him overcome a drive-through penalty to become the first Australian since Alan Jones in 1981 to climb to the top step of the Formula One podium. Webber admitted afterwards that it had been a tough road back to F1 competition after a cycling accident during his Tasmania Challenge left him with a badly broken leg and a long recovery period.
Even up to a fortnight ago the recovery was not complete, the Red Bull Racing star having surgery to remove metal pins from his leg ahead of the race in Germany. Pole position on Saturday though showed there were no ill effects.
In the race though, Webber’s hope of victory were dented by an early-race drive-through penalty after he banged wheels with Rubens Barrichello and was deemed, in doing so, to have caused an accident involving Lewis Hamilton.
Webber fought back, though, and with the Brawns struggling with their tyres, he retook the lead and raced to an emphatic victory at his 130th attempt.
"It’s an incredible day for me," he said afterwards. "I wanted to win so badly. I knew we had a good chance here and after qualifying I knew I had a better than good chance. But then I lost Rubens off the line and banged wheels with him, which isn’t my style normally, but my engineer kept me calm and I was able to push on."
Webber admitted that his off-season injury had left him with a mountain to climb to get to this level.
"The leg definitely wasn’t healed at the start of the season it was still broken and it was only the metal that was holding it in place," he said.
"I was very lucky in a few areas," he added. "For example, Melbourne was put back on the calendar a bit and a few other things have gone my way. You know, even walking in the swimming pool back in January was very tough. But I stayed positive. I knew from the times Sebastian [Vettel] was doing in winter testing that the car was going to be quick, and that really gave me motivation to get fit again. It was a difficult winter, but the team were very patient with me and I have to thank them. There were a few doubters too, so hello to them as well! An incredible day!"
The sweet taste of winner's champagne at last for Webber
