Mark Webber is competing in his 12th consecutive season, he has raced for five different teams, taking nine GP wins and 33 podiums. Such statistics do not awaken awe when considering that his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, has won 27 races in 104 starts. Yet are statistics not routinely shown to be a primeval means of measuring brilliance? Important matters can be overlooked, when focusing solely on the record books.
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The extremely intense fight required of a driver who spent seven years in a car which could never of been challenging for podiums and the respect earned from speaking out when everyone else remains silent; the determination to return from a broken leg; the ability to stay fit and focused at the front of the pack at the relatively ripe age of 36.
Mark Webber may not have a drivers' title, but he is definitely one of the most respected and popular men in the paddock. As David Coulthard, his former teammate, said earlier this week: "You don't get to do one grand prix if you don't have certain talent and you certainly don't get to do 200 if you are not delivering value."
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In 2002 on his debut, Webber was the first Australian in eight years to race at his home grand prix - Melbourne. Having qualified in 18th, at the age of 25, he finished fifth to provide the Minardi team with points for only the second time in seven seasons. Paul Stoddart, the team principal, later admitted, "never in my wildest dreams" could he have imagined the scenes as the swollen crowd at Albert Park rushed the pit lane. "It was just one of those crazy moments in Formula One that will go down in history," Stoddart said.
One of the fans that day was Stewart Murphy, who was attending his first Formula One weekend. Charmed by Webber's grit and passion, he went on to help found the driver's supporters club and has attended more than 50 of Webber's 200 races. He now lives in Abu Dhabi. On grand prix weekend at Yas Marina Circuit, his boat can be seen docked in the bay and decorated patriotically, complete with an Aussie flag and a boxing kangaroo.
"It has been a long road with Mark, so there is a lot of attachment," Murphy said in Bahrain on Friday. "I've been to a quarter of his races, but that first race in Australia, wow. He got a better reception than any of the podium winners did and it all started from there. What people like about him the most is that he says it like it is. Like it or leave it. He doesn't get out there and try to impress the masses by saying what they want to hear. He says what he feels. It's just his manner. "
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However, fellow country man influenced by Webber's performance in F1 is Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, who followed in his compatriot's footsteps to race with Toro Rosso. Ricciardo, 23, is under no doubts of the impact Webber has had on his career. "For me and a lot of other young kids, he gave us a lot of hope and the belief that F1 was not impossible, which at times it did seem like, from Australia," Ricciardo said. "For him to have 200 grands prix, that's amazing."
After his time at Minardi, Webber joined Jaguar and then Williams, where in his first season in 2005 he finished in the points at more than half of the year's 19 races. Sir Frank Williams, the team owner at Williams F1, maintains a strong relationship with his former driver. "We tease each other, which is healthy and keeps us grounded, One of the main things I noticed about Mark was that Formula One was a passion. It wasn't something that he thought he would do while he was young and make some money. The typically mischievous Williams said.
By the time Webber moved to Red Bull, in 2007, he was already 30 years old, yet the Austrian-backed England-based team were still at an embryonic stage. They had a long-term game plan and were looking for an experienced driver. Webber obviously has more experience than his German team mate. It seemed a perfect fit and in many ways, it has been.
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"When Mark signed to join the team, I don't think he could have imaged the kind of success that we would go on to achieve," Christian Horner, the team principal of the three-time constructors' champions said. Likewise, it is unlikely Horner would have imagined Webber would still be racing - and fighting for wins - with the team seven years later.
On a recent promotional video produced by Red Bull to mark their driver's 200th race, Horner likened Webber to Manchester United midfielder, Giggs, 39.
"People like Giggs are able to go on for many years because they kept themselves in good shape and applied themselves well," Horner said.
As consistent as Webber has been on the track, like Murphy said, he has also proved to be consistently - and refreshingly - honest off it.
It is a trait that leaves little to the imagination and has resulted in the occasional run-in with other drivers over the years. Once or twice a season, Webber's pleasant charm tends to disappear for a couple of seconds to reveal the true extent of the pressure-cooker environment in which he works. In that sense, it is fitting that his landmark race should arrive at a circuit that has come to define his refusal to bite his tongue. It is because of those reasons that in Malaysia, when Vettel disobeyed Red Bull orders and passed Webber to win the race, the anticipation to hear what the Australian would say afterward was electric. He did not disappoint, revealing he was considering his career, both at Red Bull and in F1.
One month later and things remain unclear. Webber has a one-year rolling contract with his team and refuses to look too far ahead. Will he, like Giggs, still be performing at the top of his sport when he is 39?
"I think I'll still be in really good shape when I'm 39. Whether I'll still be in Formula One, I'm not sure," he said. "I bumped into [the former boxer] Frank Bruno a few years ago in a gym and he said the biggest fight of his life was actually stopping. It goes against everything … how we - any sportsman or woman - are wired up. Is it stopping, is it quitting, how is it perceived? I have asked myself that question two or three times in the past three or four years and the answer is still no, because I know there are more big results around the corner."
) Lap 2 >.< 
