wikedgolf
07-30-2004, 01:42 PM
Webber trades in Jag to be contender
By Matthew Gibbs
July 31, 2004
IT was an Australian who gave the Williams team their first world champion, Alan Jones, in 1980. Now team principals Frank Williams and Patrick Head have thrown the keys to another Australian to spark a change of fortune for the team and win back the crown not worn by one of their drivers since 1997.
The worst-kept secret in the sport was confirmed this week when Mark Webber was signed to fill one of the Williams-BMW seats in 2005, with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya to depart at the end of the 2004 season.
The high regard his new employer has for his racing talent (quite apart from his nationality) is deserved, particularly in comparison to the other Australians who have competed in motor sport's premier category (see accompanying table).
Of the 13 Australians who have raced in a round of the Formula One world championship since 1950 -- 16 if you include another three who entered but failed to qualify -- the boy from Queanbeyan is already the third-best performed, trailing only former world champions Jack Brabham and Jones, the first of Williams' seven world champions 24 years ago.
Webber is certainly Australia's best hope since a raven-haired Jones flung his Hesketh-Ford around three laps of the Spanish Grand Prix on debut in April 1975. 'AJ' moved on to Williams in 1978.
There's nothing pedestrian about the Australians already overtaken by Webber. Beginning with Victorian Tony Gaze in 1952, the list includes Le Mans 24-Hour winners, Bathurst 1000 victors and IndyCar racers -- names such as Vern Schuppan, Larry Perkins, Frank Gardner, Gary Brabham and Tim Schenken.
Schenken, in fact, accumulated seven world championship points from 34 starts, including a third-place podium finish in the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix.
Appropriately, he was behind the wheel of a Brabham-Ford.
Webber has yet to spray anyone with champagne. His move to Williams should ensure a drenching.
After 12 rounds of this season, his third, Webber has competed in 44 grands prix, more than any Australian except for Jack Brabham (126 starts) and Jones (116).
He's also third highest among Australian point-scorers with 26 points. The three he collected for sixth-place in last Sunday's German Grand Prix was his 12th career finish in the points.
Admittedly, he has benefited from the extension of point-scoring positions down to eighth place since the start of 2003. Under the old system, rewarding first to sixth, he would have tallied a more modest six points so far.
Nevertheless, his finishing abilities are commendable given the mid-field quality of the cars he has piloted -- Jaguar since 2003 and Minardi, the minnows of the sport, in 2002 -- and the improved reliability of the top teams, especially the scarlet Ferraris, of whose exhaust pipes the rest of the field has made a frustratingly regular study.
Not only has Webber qualified for every race he has entered -- a boast only seven of his countrymen can make -- but he's also often at the pointy end of the grid, including starting from second spot in this year's Malaysian event. He was the first Australian to start from the front row (and only the third-ever) since Jones blasted away from a similar position to win the 1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix raced around the car park of the Caesar's Palace Casino.
Drivers from 14 countries have won the world title, but only two -- Brazil and England -- have produced more than two champions. Could Australia soon make it a threesome?
At 27, Webber has time on his side. Both Brabham (the first time around) and Jones had to wait for their world crowns until they were 33.
© The Australian
By Matthew Gibbs
July 31, 2004
IT was an Australian who gave the Williams team their first world champion, Alan Jones, in 1980. Now team principals Frank Williams and Patrick Head have thrown the keys to another Australian to spark a change of fortune for the team and win back the crown not worn by one of their drivers since 1997.
The worst-kept secret in the sport was confirmed this week when Mark Webber was signed to fill one of the Williams-BMW seats in 2005, with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya to depart at the end of the 2004 season.
The high regard his new employer has for his racing talent (quite apart from his nationality) is deserved, particularly in comparison to the other Australians who have competed in motor sport's premier category (see accompanying table).
Of the 13 Australians who have raced in a round of the Formula One world championship since 1950 -- 16 if you include another three who entered but failed to qualify -- the boy from Queanbeyan is already the third-best performed, trailing only former world champions Jack Brabham and Jones, the first of Williams' seven world champions 24 years ago.
Webber is certainly Australia's best hope since a raven-haired Jones flung his Hesketh-Ford around three laps of the Spanish Grand Prix on debut in April 1975. 'AJ' moved on to Williams in 1978.
There's nothing pedestrian about the Australians already overtaken by Webber. Beginning with Victorian Tony Gaze in 1952, the list includes Le Mans 24-Hour winners, Bathurst 1000 victors and IndyCar racers -- names such as Vern Schuppan, Larry Perkins, Frank Gardner, Gary Brabham and Tim Schenken.
Schenken, in fact, accumulated seven world championship points from 34 starts, including a third-place podium finish in the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix.
Appropriately, he was behind the wheel of a Brabham-Ford.
Webber has yet to spray anyone with champagne. His move to Williams should ensure a drenching.
After 12 rounds of this season, his third, Webber has competed in 44 grands prix, more than any Australian except for Jack Brabham (126 starts) and Jones (116).
He's also third highest among Australian point-scorers with 26 points. The three he collected for sixth-place in last Sunday's German Grand Prix was his 12th career finish in the points.
Admittedly, he has benefited from the extension of point-scoring positions down to eighth place since the start of 2003. Under the old system, rewarding first to sixth, he would have tallied a more modest six points so far.
Nevertheless, his finishing abilities are commendable given the mid-field quality of the cars he has piloted -- Jaguar since 2003 and Minardi, the minnows of the sport, in 2002 -- and the improved reliability of the top teams, especially the scarlet Ferraris, of whose exhaust pipes the rest of the field has made a frustratingly regular study.
Not only has Webber qualified for every race he has entered -- a boast only seven of his countrymen can make -- but he's also often at the pointy end of the grid, including starting from second spot in this year's Malaysian event. He was the first Australian to start from the front row (and only the third-ever) since Jones blasted away from a similar position to win the 1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix raced around the car park of the Caesar's Palace Casino.
Drivers from 14 countries have won the world title, but only two -- Brazil and England -- have produced more than two champions. Could Australia soon make it a threesome?
At 27, Webber has time on his side. Both Brabham (the first time around) and Jones had to wait for their world crowns until they were 33.
© The Australian