Australian Story: June 29

On Monday Australian Story turns the spotlight onto racing champ Mark Webber, including with an exclusive interview.

This episode is introduced by friend and former Australian cricketer, Steve Waugh.

How did a boy from an ordinary Queanbeyan family make it to the top of Formula One? How did he when thousands of others saw their dreams crash and burn?

Mark Webber’s rise through the ranks of motor sport is a boy’s own annual of spectacular successes,
frustrating failures and some hair-raising crashes along the way.

In an exclusive interview prior to the publication of his autobiography, Mark Webber lifts the lid on the high octane world of Formula One racing and candidly discusses the politics and the rivalries that dogged his career.

Webber’s hard slog to the top was inspired by his father Alan. A Jack Brabham fan, Alan and his wife
Diane used the family inheritance to give Mark a chance.

“The support I had from my parents was incredible,” said Mark Webber.

Mark also speaks candidly about the relationship that has been central to his success with his partner and manager Englishwoman Ann Neal.

He met Ann when he was only 18 and she urged him to move to Europe to pit himself against the world’s best.

Once in the UK, their relationship turned from professional to personal as they together strove tirelessly for the holy grail – a seat in a Formula One team.

The decade-plus age difference troubled Mark’s parents and the relationship was kept under wraps for many years.

Mark Webber’s debut F1 race in Melbourne in 2002 is still the stuff of legend. Sometimes called ‘the
unluckiest man in F1’, Webber had 132 Grand Prix starts before his first win in Germany in 2009 with
the Redbull team.

The next goal was the World Championship but his teammate, a young and brilliant German driver
called Sebastian Vettel, blocked his path.

Mark Webber and Ann Neal provide insights into one of the great rivalries of modern racing.

“He (Sebastian Vettel) said he had massive respect for me as a driver but not so much as a person, so
that affected the relationship obviously,” Mark Webber said.

Driven is a fascinating glimpse into life behind the Formula One pit wall.

8pm Monday on Australian Story ABC.