Age: 28

Date of Birth: 27^th August 1976

Nationality: Australian

Place of Birth: Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia

Residents: Buckinghamshire, England

Status: Single

Height: 1.85m

Weight: 76kg

Teams: Benetton (test driver 2001), Minardi (2002), Jaguar (2003-2004), Williams (2005 to present)

Grand Prix debut: Australia 2002

2005 Car Number: 7

Last Season: thirteenth

Mark Webber entered into Formula One in 2002 with Minardi. Like many F1 drivers he started his racing career in Karting. Webber won various races at state level and even became the New South Wales Champion in 1992. He moved into Australian Formula Ford in 1994, in his debut season he finished 14^th, in his second year in Australian Formula Ford, he improved and won several races.

In his first European season driving in the British Formula Ford championship, he won four races and finished second in the championship. His high point in the season was winning the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. Pervious winner of this race are F1 stars, Eddie Irvine, Johnny Herbert and Jenson Button.

Days after his victory at Brands Hatch, he tested with Alan Docking Formula 3 racing team. After, impressing fellow countryman, Alan Docking, he was asked to drive for the team in 1997. He went on to claim five podiums and victory at Brands Hatch. Also in that year he finished third in the annual Marlboro Masters at Zanvoort, The Netherlands and fourth in the Macau F3 Grand Prix.

After a glittering debut F3 season, he impressed Mercedes and the AMG sports car team, after testing for them he signed to drive with AMG Mercedes sports car team, in the 1988 FIA GT Championship. He won fives races and finished second in the championship.

In 1999 he remained at AMG Mercedes sports car team however, the FIA GT championship was cancelled due to lack of entries. So AMG Mercedes sports car team turned their attention to five races including the Le Mans 24 hour. During Thursdays practice session for Le Mans, Webbers car became airborne and somersaulted several times, He escaped uninjured. The car was rebuilt for Saturday’s race. On Lap one the same thing happened again, thankfully Mark escaped uninjured, again. Mark quickly ended his sports car career and returned to single seaters.

Late in 1999, Mark met Paul Stoddart and tested for his F3000 team, European Formula Racing. He signed a contract to drive for Stoddart in 2000. Also in late 1999, Webber had his first Formula One test with Arrows.   

In 2000 he competed in F3000, he finished third in the championship. In 2001 he remained in F3000 but had moved to Supernova, he finished second in the championship. He was also test drove for Benetton.

In 2002 he moved into Formula One with Minardi, a team owned by Paul Stoddart! His debut for Minardi will be a Grand Prix that Mark, Paul Stoddart and most of Australia will never forget. On home soil, Mark drove his Minardi to fifth in the race, thanks to a multi car pile up at the start of the race, taking out nearly all of the front-runners.

That performance in Australia was enough to impress Jaguar. In 2003 and 2004 he drove for Jaguar, although the Jaguar was unreliable in the races. Mark was on the front row of the starting grid on many occasions. By mid-way through 2004 Webber had enough with the poor reliability of the Jaguar and signed to drive for Williams in 2005.

2005 has proved a difficult time for Webber. He has been outshone by teammate, Nick Heidfeld. But, Webber has had his first podium of his F1 career at Monaco.