Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) won the Belgian Grand Prix overnight. Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing), who started the race from pole position, finished second. While Robert Kubica (Renault) capped off a great weekend for him with third place, although it could have been more. The full text from the post-race press conference is available below. A picture gallery from the race will follow soon.
[Source: FIA]
Formula One’s mid-season break is almost over. That means it’s time for the Belgian Grand Prix. Mark is also back to tell us about Belgian sausages, rain and, of course, one of the best circuits on the F1 calendar. For a bird’s eye look at the Spa F1 circuit click here. The view from the Red Bull simulator can be seen after the break.
Let’s hope we see Webber leaping for joy late on Sunday night!
Support for Formula One in Australia is currently riding a wave popularity, thanks largely to the exploits of local lad Mark Webber. The Australian, of course, is currently leading the drivers title race and is in with a real chance of being crowned this country’s first F1 World Champion since Alan Jones in 1980.
Despite this, many F1 fans might be surprised to learn that the television ratings for the sport have knocked the V8 Supercars off its perch as the most watched motorsport category in Australia.
Based on figures published in The Age numbers for the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, won by Webber, peaked at 345,000. Keep in mind the live broadcast was available on the digital only channel One HD. In contrast, viewing audiences for recent rounds of V8 Supercars have reportedly fallen below the 300,000 mark.
This figure represents a drop of more than 25% from V8 Supercar audiences from a couple of years back. Meanwhile, the introduction of the One HD channel in 2009 has given Australian audiences access to live telecasts for the majority of Grands Prix and qualifying sessions for the first time ever.
We shall have to wait and see how sustainable the popularity of F1 remains in future years when we’re unlikely to see an Australian leading the charge. For now, though, One HD, while far from perfect, must be quite content with the way things sit.
[Source: The Age via motorcentral | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
Last year Flavio Briatore found himself in a bit of a pickle. Fixing a Formula One race tends to do that, I guess. At the time Mark Webber stood by his man, declaring he would not seek another manager if Briatore’s right to continue as Webber’s agent was taken away. Now, in return, Briatore has tipped Mark to win this year’s F1 world championship.
Speaking to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, The Flav said Webber is the driver to keep an eye on, “Watch out, Webber is on his way to win the title: what he has done in Hungary on Sunday was phenomenal. But I’m not tipping Webber just because he is one of my drivers, I only state what everyone has seen from home.
“Mark is a driver capable of exceptional feats. He has now reached a maturity and inner calmness that can take him really far. In Hungary he was the first one understanding that he could take a risk in running for three-quarter distance on the soft tyres he had at the start. That was the winning move, but it also demonstrated how much he uses his brain, unlike many others.”
[via autosport.com]
The 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix; Red Bull Racing’s 100th GP, Mark Webber’s 150th GP and his 6th career victory. The Aussie now leads the drivers championship and Red Bull have finally reached the top of the constructors tree. There’s seven races left in 2010, can Mark and RBR maintain the rage?
Elsewhere, Michael drove his old pal Rubens up the wall. Sebastian had a mid-race nap and Robert drove into Adrian. Here’s a surprise, too; think of the six drivers from the new teams (Lotus, Virgin and HRT), if they were running their own mini-championship who do you think would be leading the charge? A gold star for you if you picked out the name Karun Chandhok.
[Thanks to Micky for the Chandhok tip]
Mark Webber has just won an extraordinary Hungarian Grand Prix, in doing so he has reclaimed the lead of the 2010 world drivers championship. It was a fortunate turn of events that, in the end, delivered Webber a comfortable win from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel started the race on pole, with Webber in P2 and Alonso P3. The Ferrari man jumped Webber off the line and very nearly took the lead from Vettel into Turn 1. Vettel was able to fend off Alonso’s challenge and the notoriously difficult to pass Hungaroring looked like providing another boring procession.
However, on lap 15, before teams were planning to bring in their drivers for scheduled pit stops some debris from one of the Force India cars was positioned precariously in the middle of the track. The Safety Car was deployed and the entire field took advantage to make their compulsory tyre change; with the exception of Webber, Rubens Barichello (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Virgin Racing). Chaos reigned in pit lane, too, with a crash between Robert Kubica (Renault) and Vintonio Liuzzi (Force India), a loose wheel from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes bouncing down the lane among the teams and cars everywhere.
This weekend Mark is thinking about a lot of German drivers on the grid, a huge history and repeating his 2009 success. A matching pair of German Grand Prix victories at the Nürburgring and Hockenheim would make a nice set, don’t you think.
With victory at Silverstone overnight Mark Webber became the first driver to win three races in 2010. And, following that qualifying wing-swap controversy with teammate Sebastian Vettel, what a satisfying win it was too.
Webber was determined to take the lead by the first corner and after the race he explained, “It was pretty straightforward. I made a good start. I was very keen to make it my corner and it worked out well for me, so it was good.”
The Australian was still firm in his views when asked in the post-race press conference about the situation from qualifying, “Yesterday was a really unique situation. It was the first time that the team had really had one component. Honestly I would never have signed a contract again for next year if I believed that that was the way it was going to be going forward. That’s why I was disappointed yesterday and was honest with you guys. Let’s see how it goes in the future but I just keep doing what I do and hopefully it’s enough.”
The complete transcript from the press-conference is now available at Formula1.com. Also, selected team and driver quotes recorded after the race, including words from Vettel, can be read as well.
After the jump a set of Red Bull Racing images captured from race day and qualifying are available. Images from other teams to follow soon.
UPDATE: SMH.com.au brings us some amazing allegations of intra-team rivalry at Red Bull Racing: “Webber’s mechanics were said to have removed the ‘old’ front wing that Webber had been forced to race with and waved it at Vettel’s side of the garage.”
UPDATE II: New pics from McLaren, Mercedes GP, Williams, Sauber, Force India, Toro Rosso, Renault and Ferrari added below.
Mark Webber has won his third Grand Prix of the 2010 Formula One season at Silverstone this evening. Webber started from second on the grid, behind his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel, but was able to edge ahead of Vettel into the first corner.
Through the next series of corners Vettel ran wide and picked up a puncture after minor contact with Lewis Hamilton. This setback which sent Vettel to the back of the field. From there it was a masterful race from Webber who maintained the lead for the rest of the race.
Lewis Hamilton finished second and was able to pressure the Australian in the in the first part of the race when both drivers were on the softer compound tyres. Hamilton came into change tyres before Webber, but Red Bull Racing got Webber in and out safely on the next lap and back out ahead of Hamilton. Once on the harder prime tyres Webber was supreme and the only way Hamilton could close the gap was thanks to a safety car period to clear some debris from the track.
After the restart Webber once again pulled away and established a comfortable lead. As the race drew to an inevitable end Webber slowed his pace and coasted to victory just 1.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Nico Rosberg finished in third place. Vettel, for his misfortune at the start of the race, managed to make the most of the safety car period to fight back into the points finishing in seventh position.
It’s Mark Webber’s turn to tell us all about the new Silverstone layout today. He’s a bit excited about racing in England, too. It’s the home race for Red Bull Racing, there’s very passionate fans and, best of all, Mark gets to snuggle under his own doona at night.
Actually, on that point, I think I heard the other day that Webber is the only current F1 driver who lives in the UK. All the rest are living it Playboy mansion style on the continent I guess. Still, you can’t expect a kid from Struggle Town to be attracted by the bright lights of Monaco. That’s simply a place you go to win races.
Red Bull Racing and Mark Webber stunned London commuters early yesterday morning when they took to the streets in a Formula One car. The 6am stunt was part of promotions building up to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 11 July.
Speaking after his morning commute in the 2009 RB5 racecar Webber said, “Obviously, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity – it’s not every day you get to see the sights of London from an F1 car. This year has once again thrown up some interesting rule changes so any practice the team can get is going to make a difference, no matter where it is.”
I wonder, is a Formula One car exempt from the London congestion charge?
You can see a couple of videos after the jump showing Mark mixing it up with London’s early morning traffic. An interview with Webber is also available on the Red Bull website.
[Source: Red Bull Racing]
BREAKING NEWS: Mark Webber has crashed out of the European Grand Prix at Valencia after a spectacular incident with the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen. The contact with Kovalainen happened on lap 9 of the 57 lap race. Importantly, both drivers walked away with no injuries and have been released from the trackside medical centre.
After a poor start from second on the grid Webber had dropped back to ninth place by the second lap. Webber’s Red Bull team brought him in for an early pit stop in a bid to escape traffic; the Valencia track is notoriously difficult to pass.
Webber’s bad day continued with a less than perfect pit stop after the crew had problems changing his front left wheel. However, things were about to get much worse. After rejoining the race Webber found himself fighting with Kovalainen for track position. The Finn swerved to defend his place and the rapidly closing Webber was left with nowhere to go except up. And up, and up!
Webber’s car flipped and landed on its roof before crashing into a tyre barrier at high speed. It was an incident reminiscent of Webber’s crash during practice at Le Mans in 1999.
After the break you can see a series of screen grabs of the incident, including the view from Mark’s in-car camera. There’s an animation showing the incident, as well as footage from Webber’s Le Mans crash.
UPDATE: Webber’s teammate Sebastien Vettel won the race ahead of the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. A full race image gallery will be online in the next 24 hours.