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Mark Webber bids for glory in Barcelona today but his eyes are on F1, writes Nicole Jeffery
MARK WEBBER has acquired a nickname in the Benetton Renault Formula One team -- the "Ultimate Vulture".
As the team's test driver, he is perched on the shoulders of Benetton's F1 pairing of Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button, one step away from becoming one of only 22 Formula One drivers in the world.
But it is a big step.
In the 20 years since Alan Jones won the world championship, only one Australian, Jack Brabham's son David, has made even a brief appearance in Formula One competition.
Seven years since Brabham called it a day after 16 races with Simtek, Australia is still waiting for another driver to strut the stage of motor racing's global circus.
Webber, a self-effacing 24-year-old, is closer than anyone, so close he can taste it.
From the first time he strapped himself into an F1 car, he knew racing it was everything that he wanted.
"I have never sat on the end of a bullet, but it's like you are in control of a serious weapon," he explains.
"You squeeze the throttle by two centimetres and there is an explosion. They are awesome things to have in your control."
Webber has spent five years campaigning in Formula Ford, Formula Three, touring cars and Formula 3000 through Britain and Europe, and only one thing now seems to stand between him and his dream. He needs a winning season in Formula 3000, the acknowledged F1 training ground.
He finished third in the championship last year, driving for Australian-born aviation millionaire Paul Stoddart (who, in January this year, bought the struggling Minardi F1 team), but is now with the Benetton-connected Super Nova Racing team, which has finished no worse than second in each of the past six years.
After a bumpy start in the first round in Brazil, he and his team dominated the second round at Imola in Italy two weeks ago, qualifying fastest and leading the race from start to finish.
He has also impressed in F1 testing this year, despite one small mishap. The gravitational force of cornering an F1 car is such that Webber snapped a rib in his left side...
