The raging bull! How Mark Webber has left world champions Button and Hamilton trailing in his slipstream



By Malcolm Folley

At his local petrol station in Buckinghamshire, Mark Webber drew some quiet, congratulatory comments when he returned home from Monaco last week.



'Usually, people tell me that if Lewis or Jenson can't win, they support me,' said Webber. 'I'm the third cab off the rank, but that's understandable.'



Not any longer. In the space of eight, unforgettable days, Webber, a 33-year-old Australian who has taken root in England, has turned the established order of Formula One on its head with back-to-back victories in Spain and Monaco.



Leading the way: Webber won his second consecutive grand prix in Monaco

After eight largely unprofitable years spent predominantly at the wrong end of the grid, Webber, at 6ft 2in preposterously tall for a racing driver, has become an overnight sensation.



At the start of the season, nobody envisaged the Aussie with the lean, muscular build of a fast bowler - and a steel rod in his right leg as the result of an accident suffered in the unlikely circumstances of a charity cycling event - travelling this fast, or this far.



The year was supposed to be dominated by reigning world champion Jenson Button joining forces with his predecessor, Lewis Hamilton, to form a British dream team at McLaren. Fernando Alonso's Ferrari was meant to be their most potent threat, while the return of seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher at 41 was expected to present a force for younger men to fear.



All smiles: Webber leads the championship withe Sebastian Vettel

And if Red Bull were to become a team of substance, then 23-year-old Sebastian Vettel was the driver earmarked to advance their claims.



Yet last week, the man being showered with champagne and compliments was Webber, who until a fortnight ago had enjoyed just two wins from 142 F1 races.

After winning the Monaco Grand Prix last Sunday, leading from first corner to last with a composed, masterful drive in his Red Bull - just as he had done at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona the weekend before - Webber has thrust himself to the head of the World Championship standings.

'I suppose it's amazing because, only three or four weeks ago, everyone was talking about the dream team at McLaren or Michael doing this or that,' said Webber. 'But I'm not getting carried away; our sport changes in a flash.'

Over recent days Webber has received a deluge of calls and messages from racing men like Nigel Mansell, Sir Stirling Moss, Alain Prost, Jody Scheckter and Jack Brabham, as well Australian cricketers Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.



He feels humbled by the acclaim. 'It seems a lot of people watch the Monaco Grand Prix,' he said.



Webber's success is sweeter for having endured years of hardship with under-funded teams since making his debut with Minardi in 2002.



Flat out: Webber has turned the world of Formula One upside down

Years in the outback of the sport followed with Jaguar and Williams, teams condemned to compete with little money and even less hope of winning. Then, cruelly, just as he appeared to be turning the corner with a new team, Red Bull, Webber feared his career could be stolen from him.



Seventeen months ago he was knocked over by a car when he was cycling in his own charity event in Tasmania. He suffered a double compound fracture of his right leg, along with a broken shoulder. Webber was given just 82 days, from entering hospital in Australia to passing a fitness test set by his Red Bull paymasters, to get himself fit to continue racing for the team in 2009.

'It was an aggressive time-frame with the injuries I had,' he said without complaint last week. 'The team were putting a huge amount of effort into being successful against Ferrari and McLaren week in, week out and you can't have one of your key personnel messing you around.

Taking a dip: Webber celebrates after winning the Monaco Grand Prix

'I admit they were difficult times, but I had good people around me and I was determined to make it.'



The steel rod holding his right leg in place is a legacy of his battle; but, then Webber is a man who defies stereo-typing. Just recently, he watched surgeons perform open-heart surgery at a hospital in Nottingham.



'I wanted to see other professional people perform under pressure,' he explained. His mother, Diane, had successfully undergone a similar operation at home in New South Wales.



'I wasn't clever enough to study medicine, but I've always been fascinated by physiology and the human condition,' he added.



Making a splash: Webber has won two races inside eight days

When he called home from Monaco on Sunday, he shared his elation with his father Alan, hugely instrumental in assisting Webber's journey from the small country town of Queanbeyan, near Canberra, to Formula One.

'But mum couldn't get any further than, "Hello", because she was too emotional.' The family remembered only too well the odds that Webber surmounted.



Without a £54,000 interest-free loan from Australia's maverick rugby star, David Campese - until then the most famous inhabitant of Queanbeyan - he would have run out of money during his apprenticeship in Formula Three in Britain.



By then, Webber was already in a relationship with an Englishwoman, Ann Neal, who had worked as a consultant with Ford in Australia after her marriage had broken down.



Tough times: Webber's 2009 season was in doubt after his accident

She was with Webber when he dined with Prince Albert as guest of honour at the traditional post-Monaco Grand Prix black-tie gala party on Sunday night.



'I was in jeans, but smart jeans,' he insisted. 'Ann did well but, true to form, females need more time to get ready! Still, I was let in and Prince Albert seemed happy to see me.

'It struck me that, at that dinner with the Prince, I was part of history. never forget them peeling back roof of the building for a fireworks display. It was a great conclusion what had been a unique, dramatic week in my life.'



Webber's celebrations came attached with a health warning. To escape madding crowd wanting to share triumph at the end of the race, Webber made an unconventional return to team's HQ, a three-storey palatial restaurant-bar-business centre, with its own swimming pool, that was beside the paddock.



All smiles: but Hamilton is yet to open his winning account this season

Along with Vettel, who secured Red Bull a memorable one-two result, Webber jumped into the harbour from a height of around 20ft and swam back.



'I've got to admit the water didn't taste too good, mate,' said Webber. On Monday, he had a hangover made in heaven.



'I drove round the track again in my road car looking to see where the rubber was, just taking in the moment,' he explained. 'The last time I'd driven it, I'd been pretty wired! I am not one for the glitz or glamour, but I know how tough it is to win there. A small error and your race is over. I just wanted another look on Monday.'



What he saw was how he had placed himself among the most exalted company. And at the end of an exceptional week's work, Webber is now deemed in control of the driver market.



His contract ends this year and he is attracting the attention of Ferrari, who are widely expected to part company with Felipe Massa this year.



Yet, with the wisdom acquired from years in the business, Webber is unexcited about his sudden change of status.

'I've just won two races, back-to-back, and people are asking me where I'm going to drive next year,' he said. 'I'm very close to the guys at Red Bull, we've been through a lot, and I have a great relationship with them. Yet things happen and change very fast in this business, and you never know what's around the corner.



'At the moment, I'm only thinking about the next race, in Turkey next weekend. The rest will take care of itself. There are hundreds of points up for grabs and I'm concentrating on the job in hand. I imagine the picture will be clearer in another six weeks or so. But what matters most is I still have a great desire driving me.'



In Australia, his triumph last Sunday had eased the nation's pain at losing to England in the Twenty20 world championship final as he took the headlines.



'If you want to call that cricket, England are world champions,' said Webber. 'But wait for the Ashes this winter - the Monaco of cricket!'



Last week Webber settled back into the pace of rural Buckinghamshire, unfazed by his new stardom.

'We came close to moving abroad a couple of years ago, but I'm glad we didn't. I can read the newspapers in the morning, watch sport on TV, and go to a few football matches. When the weather's good, it's a great part of the world.' Last week it had never felt better.



