Zoom Webber P1 with Red Bull at the Nurburgring

Red Bull Renault celebrated their third one-two result of the season today at the Nurburgring as Mark Webber secured his first victory from the pole position while team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished in second.

“A fantastic drive from Mark,” said Team Principal Christian Horner. “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.”

Webber’s first win came after over 130 Grand Prix starts and naturally the Australian is delighted to have finally made the breakthrough.

“Not many Australian drivers have reached Formula One and there are even fewer that are successful,” Webber responded after being asked on what the win meant as an Australian. “So for me to win a grand prix and have the career that I’ve had – a long career – but for sure I wanted better results but this year has been very, very special and now we are able to say that we’ve won a grand prix, fair and square, which is nice.

“It’s a real message to the Australian people. I’ve always tried to represent my country as best as I can. We’re a very proud sporting nation, we have done well on two wheels, on motorbikes with Mick (Doohan) and with Casey (Stoner) but the motorbikes aren’t motor sport in general at world level, where we haven’t been amazing. It’s a great day for me and Australia and that’s why it was a special one. ”

Webber now moves third in the championship standings, just 1.5 points behind Vettel and admits that earlier in the season, he did not expect to be his current position following the cycling accident that left him with a broken leg.

“I think I was kidding myself a little bit,” he admitted. “I thought I was ready to go for winter testing but I wasn’t. It is absolutely clear that the leg was a long way from healed and it was still broken. It was just the metal holding it in place, so it has come a long way since then. Time has been a little bit on my side. I was lucky that Melbourne was put back a little bit in the calendar and a few things have gone my way, so along with having fantastic people around me, like Roger (Cleary), my physio. We spent a lot of time together getting back and even things like walking in the swimming pool and things like that in the first part of January was very tough for me. But there is always someone worse off and I always stayed positive and I knew that looking at the times Sebastian was doing in testing the car was going to be quick. That gave me incredible motivation to be ready.

“Everyone in Australia that has supported me on the way through and of course there are a few people who doubted me too as well, so hello to them as well,” he continued. “It is just an incredible day for all the people who have helped me get to where I am.”

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International