Red Bull's Mark Webber is the latest driver to pick his five favourite all-time races for BBC Sport's classic Formula 1 series.

Unlike some of his rivals, our columnist was a fan of F1 before he started racing in it and has a good knowledge of the sport's history.

So it is no surprise that his selection is an aficionado's list of five all-time great races.

In his 10 years in the sport, Webber has been involved in plenty of classic races himself - but he has not picked any of his six wins, nor great moments such as his pass of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at Eau Rouge at Spa this year, a move that will go down in the annals as one of the best and bravest there has been.

Instead, the sole race among his five choices in which he took part is one in which he played only a cameo role - albeit an important one. But we will come on to that later.

Webber's first choice is one he remembers watching as a child in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, the 1986 Australian Grand Prix. It is the race that brought to a climax what some have called the greatest F1 season in history.

Held on the Adelaide street circuit, it is famous for the tyre blow-out that robbed Williams driver Nigel Mansell of the title and for McLaren driver Alain Prost's unexpected - if thoroughly deserved - second title, won against great odds. As Webber says: "It was a big battle for the championship and obviously Nigel Mansell had the tyre failure. It was a grand prix packed with great drama."

The 1992 Belgian Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher took his maiden F1 victory on this damp day at Spa-Francorchamps, on the first anniversary of his debut. Schumacher's win actually hinged on an error. He ran off the track and lost a place to Benetton team-mate Martin Brundle. On rejoining, Schumacher noticed that the Englishman's rear tyres were 'graining' so he decided to pit for new ones. The decision won him the race.

There were also starring roles for those two giants of the era, McLaren's Ayrton Senna and Mansell. Webber recalls: "Senna tried to make the slicks work in an inferior car while Schumacher got the tactics right although Brundle was just as quick. As was often the case, Michael made a mistake and ran off the track but managed to get back on to notch up his first race win."



The 1993 European Grand Prix

A favourite of F1 drivers this year - arguably Ayrton Senna's defining performance in the rain at Donington Park. As Webber says: "The original yellow helmet. Say no more!"



The 2000 Japanese Grand Prix

The race Schumacher has said was his best ever - it won him his first title for Ferrari after a flat-out race-long battle with his most respected rival, McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, in which both men operated on a separate level from their rivals at Suzuka, one of the most demanding circuits in the world.

Webber says: "This was Hakkinen and Schumacher at their best. It's only after you've driven this track and competed there in F1 that you appreciate what a great grand prix those two contested."



The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix

"Which is a race I competed in," Webber says - and one, it should be added, that is arguably the greatest F1 race in history. It featured two of the best overtaking moves there have ever been, and it was won by McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen from 17th on the grid, the Finn overtaking Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella for the lead at the start of the last lap.

It might well have been won by Fisichella's team-mate Fernando Alonso, who led Raikkonen in the early laps. But the Spaniard was delayed by a controversial intervention by the stewards, which impacted on his strategy. And when he might have been battling for the lead, he was fighting to pass Webber's Williams for third place.

Alonso finally forced his way past the Australian in a brave move that involved putting two wheels on the grass halfway down the pit straight. But that pass was nothing compared to the one he pulled on Schumacher at the high-speed 130R corner earlier on in the race. Alonso took Schumacher around the outside of the corner, knowing that if they touched their lives would be in danger. Astonishingly, his apex speed as he passed the Ferrari was 207mph.

Webber says: "After a mixed up qualifying, we had some pretty fast guys in the best cars at the back. I enjoyed the race, driving a Williams car that was good in the corners but very, very inefficient aerodynamically and so I had no top speed. I fought for a podium late in the race with Fernando."

We have chosen Webber as our driver this week because he had selected this race, which is a fitting scene-setter for this weekend's action in Japan.

Highlights of the 2005 grand prix at Suzuka are embedded below, while underneath them are short and extended highlights of last year's Japanese race. It was dominated by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, with Webber right in his wheel tracks for the entire grand prix, but unable to get past.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

CLICK HERE FOR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

CLICK HERE FOR EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

Webber's classic races will be available on the BBC red button on satellite and cable television in the UK from 1500 BST on Wednesday 5 October until 0155 BST on Friday 7 October. Freeview viewers will be able to watch them between Friday's first and second practice sessions, from 0340 to 0550 on Friday.