manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
9842_10	fifth in his first race, the . He moved to the Jaguar squad for the and 2004 championships. For
9842_11	the 2005 season, he was granted an early release from his contract with Jaguar and joined the
9842_12	Williams team, securing his first podium finish at the . Webber remained at Williams until the 2006
9842_13	campaign, driving for the Red Bull squad for the rest of his F1 career. He won nine F1 , thirteen
9842_14	pole positions and finished third in the World Drivers' Championship in the , and 2013 seasons.
9842_15	He left F1 after 2013 and moved to the WEC, sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Bernhard and Hartley
9842_16	in the fully-professional Le Mans Prototype 1 class from the 2014 to 2016 seasons. The trio won
9842_17	eight races in the final two seasons and the 2015 World Endurance Drivers' Championship. He retired
9842_18	from motor sport in 2016, becoming a television pundit for Britain's Channel 4 and Australia's
9842_19	Network 10 and a driver manager. Webber received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and was
9842_20	appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2017 Australia Day Honours. Webber is an
9842_21	inductee of both the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame and the FIA Hall of Fame.
9842_22	Early and personal life
9842_23	On 27 August 1976, Webber was born to middle-class parents, motorcycle dealer and petrol station
9842_24	owner Alan Webber and his wife Diane, in the small New South Wales town of Queanbeyan located in
9842_25	the Tablelands, on the Queanbeyan River banks, near Canberra. His paternal grandfather was a
9842_26	firewood merchant. Webber has an elder sister, Leanne. He was educated at the nearby Isabella
9842_27	Street Primary School and Karabar High School (KHS). Webber represented KHS in athletics and rugby
9842_28	league and did Australian rules football, cricket and swimming after his mother encouraged him to
9842_29	get involved in as many sports as possible. At age 13, he was a ball boy for the rugby league team
9842_30	Canberra Raiders for a year and earned money delivering pizzas in the Canberra and Queanbeyan areas
9842_31	in his late schooling years. Webber also worked as an apprentice plumber and woodcutter. He lives
9842_32	in the small Buckinghamshire village of Aston Clinton with his wife Ann Neal and is stepfather to
9842_33	her son from a previous relationship.
9842_34	Early racing career
9842_35	Webber began driving motorbikes on weekends from about age four or five on his maternal
9842_36	grandfather's farm. Webber was not encouraged to seriously take up motorcycling by his father,
9842_37	because he sponsored some local children who were injured in motorbike accidents. At about 12 or
9842_38	13, he switched to karting, buying a go-kart from a school friend's father. He developed himself at
9842_39	a local indoor go-kart centre near his home. Webber received a second-hand worn out go-kart from
9842_40	his father in 1990 and drove it about once a month at the Canberra Go-Kart Club and in meetings in
9842_41	and around Canberra. Andy Lawson, owner of Queanbeyan Kart Centre, built karts around Webber's
9842_42	frame and Webber's father leased his petrol station and worked long hours at an car dealer to fund
9842_43	his son's karting activities. Webber opted for karting, and made his junior-level karting debut in
9842_44	1991 aged 14, winning the 1992 Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales (NSW) State
9842_45	championships. In 1993, Webber won the Canberra Cup, the King of Karting Clubman Light Class
9842_46	titles, the 1993 Top Gun Award at the Ian Luff Advanced Driving School, and the 1993 NSW Junior
9842_47	National Heavy Championship in a Lawson kart with a larger, more powerful engine.
9842_48	In 1994, he made his car racing debut, competing in the eight-round Australian Formula Ford
9842_49	Championship featuring non-aerodynamically dependent open-wheel racing vehicles fitted with treaded
9842_50	tyres. He drove Craig Lowndes' championship-winning 1993 RF93 Van Diemen FF1600 car that his father
9842_51	purchased. Webber achieved a season-high third at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for 14th in the
9842_52	Drivers' Championship with 30 points and second in the Rookie of the Year standings. He was
9842_53	disqualified from the non-championship Formula Ford support race for passing the field on the
9842_54	formation lap. In late 1994, Webber's father asked English-born media officer Ann Neal to locate
9842_55	sponsorship for Webber; Neal located support from the Australian Yellow Pages after she and Webber
9842_56	reviewed six proposals. Webber moved to Sydney from Queanbeyan to be closer to Australia's motor
9842_57	racing industry. When not racing, he earned money working part-time as a driving instructor at Oran
9842_58	Park Raceway defensive driving school.
9842_59	He entered the 1995 Australian Formula Ford Championship with Yellow Pages Racing driving a 1995
9842_60	Van Diemen car, finishing fourth overall with three victories, three pole positions and 158 points
9842_61	in a high-quality field. Webber finished second at both Mallala Motor Sport Park rounds of the 1995
9842_62	Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Birrana Racing Reynard 90D-Holden car for seventh in the
9842_63	Drivers' Championship with 32 points. In October 1995, he moved to the London suburb of Hainault,
9842_64	to further his racing career. He entered the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch with the Van
9842_65	Diemen factory team, and finished the race third. The result impressed team owner Ralph Firman Sr.
9842_66	enough to sign Webber to Van Diemen for both the 1996 European Formula Ford Championship and the
9842_67	1996 British Formula Ford Championship, finishing third and second overall, respectively. He won
9842_68	four races in the British series, finishing second in the championship behind teammate Kristian
9842_69	Kolby, and was also third in the Formula Ford Euro Cup driving two of the three rounds with a win
9842_70	at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Webber won the Formula Holden support race, and the Formula
9842_71	Ford Festival.
9842_72	In 1997, he elected to skip Formula Renault and Formula Vauxhall on sponsors advice, and signed a
9842_73	contract to progress to the higher-tier British Formula Three Championship with Alan Docking Racing
9842_74	(ADR). Webber was ADR's lead driver complimented by two funded non-competitive teammates, and was
9842_75	told to bring funding to ADR. Driving a Dallara F397 car powered by an old Mugen Honda engine
9842_76	purchased by the Webber family, he won the Brands Hatch Grand Prix event and came fourth overall
9842_77	with 131 points. Webber was voted Rookie of the Year as 1997's highest-placed rookie. His funding
9842_78	almost dried up mid-season until motor racing journalist Peter Windsor suggested Webber solicit
9842_79	funding from rugby union player and family friend David Campese to complete the year and stop
9842_80	Webber ending his international career early. Webber's season was put on a race-by-race basis and
9842_81	he received offers from Renault and Jackie Stewart. He also finished third in the Masters of
9842_82	Formula 3 and fourth in the Macau Grand Prix for ADR.
9842_83	Sports car racing and International Formula 3000 (1998–2001)
9842_84	After testing at the A1 Ring, Webber rejected an offer from Mercedes-Benz motorsports boss Norbert
9842_85	Haug to drive a CLK GTR car at the FIA GT Nürburgring 4 Hours in place of Alexander Wurz. However,
9842_86	he did agree to race for the AMG Mercedes team in the 1998 FIA GT Championship. Haug selected
9842_87	Webber after AMG Mercedes' Gerhard Ungar liked Webber's tenacity. Webber was paired with touring
9842_88	car driver Bernd Schneider, who mentored him driving-wise and in vehicle mechanics. Driving the 1
9842_89	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, he and Schneider won five races and took eight podium finishes, finishing
9842_90	championship runner-up to teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta after a title duel with the
9842_91	sister team lasting to the season's final round.
9842_92	In June 1998, Webber entered his first 24 Hours of Le Mans having pre-qualified due to Schneider's
9842_93	1997 FIA GT Championship win. He, Ludwig and Schnieder retired their Le Mans-specific CLK-LM car
9842_94	after 75 minutes due to a steering pump fault causing an engine failure. Late in the year, Campese
9842_95	Management managed Webber until Neal resumed her professional relationship with Webber; she
9842_96	suggested that Webber enter the International Formula 3000 (IF3000) in 1999 pending funding. Webber
9842_97	entered the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans after the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)
9842_98	abolished the FIA GT Championship GT1 category due to a lack of manufacturer entries for 1999.
9842_99	Sharing the No. 4 Mercedes-Benz CLR with Jean-Marc Gounon and Marcel Tiemann, an car aerodynamic
9842_100	fault caused Webber to go airborne in qualifying between Mulsanne Corner and Indianapolis corner
9842_101	and on the Mulsanne Straight in race-day warm up, forcing his withdrawal from the race.
9842_102	Webber's relationship with Mercedes-Benz cooled following Le Mans because he felt they were
9842_103	unworried about him. He rejected Haug's offer to compete in American open-wheel racing. Greg
9842_104	Moore's death in an accident in California in October 1999 prompted Webber to focus on European
9842_105	single-seater racing. His Mercedes-Benz contract was terminated around November following
9842_106	negotiations. Airline magnate Paul Stoddart, through talks with Jordan Grand Prix team owner Eddie
9842_107	Jordan, offered to underwrite $1.1 million for Webber to combine F3000 and planned Formula One (F1)
9842_108	testing. Webber signed to drive a Lola-Ford Zytek car for the Arrows F3000 team in the 2000 IF3000
9842_109	Championship, finishing third in the Drivers' Championship with 21 points, winning at Silverstone,

9842_10

fifth in his first race, the . He moved to the Jaguar squad for the and 2004 championships. For

9842_11

the 2005 season, he was granted an early release from his contract with Jaguar and joined the

9842_12

Williams team, securing his first podium finish at the . Webber remained at Williams until the 2006

9842_13

campaign, driving for the Red Bull squad for the rest of his F1 career. He won nine F1 , thirteen

9842_14

pole positions and finished third in the World Drivers' Championship in the , and 2013 seasons.

9842_15

He left F1 after 2013 and moved to the WEC, sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Bernhard and Hartley

9842_16

in the fully-professional Le Mans Prototype 1 class from the 2014 to 2016 seasons. The trio won

9842_17

eight races in the final two seasons and the 2015 World Endurance Drivers' Championship. He retired

9842_18

from motor sport in 2016, becoming a television pundit for Britain's Channel 4 and Australia's

9842_19

Network 10 and a driver manager. Webber received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and was

9842_20

appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2017 Australia Day Honours. Webber is an

9842_21

inductee of both the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame and the FIA Hall of Fame.

9842_22

Early and personal life

9842_23

On 27 August 1976, Webber was born to middle-class parents, motorcycle dealer and petrol station

9842_24

owner Alan Webber and his wife Diane, in the small New South Wales town of Queanbeyan located in

9842_25

the Tablelands, on the Queanbeyan River banks, near Canberra. His paternal grandfather was a

9842_26

firewood merchant. Webber has an elder sister, Leanne. He was educated at the nearby Isabella

9842_27

Street Primary School and Karabar High School (KHS). Webber represented KHS in athletics and rugby

9842_28

league and did Australian rules football, cricket and swimming after his mother encouraged him to

9842_29

get involved in as many sports as possible. At age 13, he was a ball boy for the rugby league team

9842_30

Canberra Raiders for a year and earned money delivering pizzas in the Canberra and Queanbeyan areas

9842_31

in his late schooling years. Webber also worked as an apprentice plumber and woodcutter. He lives

9842_32

in the small Buckinghamshire village of Aston Clinton with his wife Ann Neal and is stepfather to

9842_33

her son from a previous relationship.

9842_34

Early racing career

9842_35

Webber began driving motorbikes on weekends from about age four or five on his maternal

9842_36

grandfather's farm. Webber was not encouraged to seriously take up motorcycling by his father,

9842_37

because he sponsored some local children who were injured in motorbike accidents. At about 12 or

9842_38

13, he switched to karting, buying a go-kart from a school friend's father. He developed himself at

9842_39

a local indoor go-kart centre near his home. Webber received a second-hand worn out go-kart from

9842_40

his father in 1990 and drove it about once a month at the Canberra Go-Kart Club and in meetings in

9842_41

and around Canberra. Andy Lawson, owner of Queanbeyan Kart Centre, built karts around Webber's

9842_42

frame and Webber's father leased his petrol station and worked long hours at an car dealer to fund

9842_43

his son's karting activities. Webber opted for karting, and made his junior-level karting debut in

9842_44

1991 aged 14, winning the 1992 Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales (NSW) State

9842_45

championships. In 1993, Webber won the Canberra Cup, the King of Karting Clubman Light Class

9842_46

titles, the 1993 Top Gun Award at the Ian Luff Advanced Driving School, and the 1993 NSW Junior

9842_47

National Heavy Championship in a Lawson kart with a larger, more powerful engine.

9842_48

In 1994, he made his car racing debut, competing in the eight-round Australian Formula Ford

9842_49

Championship featuring non-aerodynamically dependent open-wheel racing vehicles fitted with treaded

9842_50

tyres. He drove Craig Lowndes' championship-winning 1993 RF93 Van Diemen FF1600 car that his father

9842_51

purchased. Webber achieved a season-high third at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for 14th in the

9842_52

Drivers' Championship with 30 points and second in the Rookie of the Year standings. He was

9842_53

disqualified from the non-championship Formula Ford support race for passing the field on the

9842_54

formation lap. In late 1994, Webber's father asked English-born media officer Ann Neal to locate

9842_55

sponsorship for Webber; Neal located support from the Australian Yellow Pages after she and Webber

9842_56

reviewed six proposals. Webber moved to Sydney from Queanbeyan to be closer to Australia's motor

9842_57

racing industry. When not racing, he earned money working part-time as a driving instructor at Oran

9842_58

Park Raceway defensive driving school.

9842_59

He entered the 1995 Australian Formula Ford Championship with Yellow Pages Racing driving a 1995

9842_60

Van Diemen car, finishing fourth overall with three victories, three pole positions and 158 points

9842_61

in a high-quality field. Webber finished second at both Mallala Motor Sport Park rounds of the 1995

9842_62

Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Birrana Racing Reynard 90D-Holden car for seventh in the

9842_63

Drivers' Championship with 32 points. In October 1995, he moved to the London suburb of Hainault,

9842_64

to further his racing career. He entered the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch with the Van

9842_65

Diemen factory team, and finished the race third. The result impressed team owner Ralph Firman Sr.

9842_66

enough to sign Webber to Van Diemen for both the 1996 European Formula Ford Championship and the

9842_67

1996 British Formula Ford Championship, finishing third and second overall, respectively. He won

9842_68

four races in the British series, finishing second in the championship behind teammate Kristian

9842_69

Kolby, and was also third in the Formula Ford Euro Cup driving two of the three rounds with a win

9842_70

at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Webber won the Formula Holden support race, and the Formula

9842_71

Ford Festival.

9842_72

In 1997, he elected to skip Formula Renault and Formula Vauxhall on sponsors advice, and signed a

9842_73

contract to progress to the higher-tier British Formula Three Championship with Alan Docking Racing

9842_74

(ADR). Webber was ADR's lead driver complimented by two funded non-competitive teammates, and was

9842_75

told to bring funding to ADR. Driving a Dallara F397 car powered by an old Mugen Honda engine

9842_76

purchased by the Webber family, he won the Brands Hatch Grand Prix event and came fourth overall

9842_77

with 131 points. Webber was voted Rookie of the Year as 1997's highest-placed rookie. His funding

9842_78

almost dried up mid-season until motor racing journalist Peter Windsor suggested Webber solicit

9842_79

funding from rugby union player and family friend David Campese to complete the year and stop

9842_80

Webber ending his international career early. Webber's season was put on a race-by-race basis and

9842_81

he received offers from Renault and Jackie Stewart. He also finished third in the Masters of

9842_82

Formula 3 and fourth in the Macau Grand Prix for ADR.

9842_83

Sports car racing and International Formula 3000 (1998–2001)

9842_84

After testing at the A1 Ring, Webber rejected an offer from Mercedes-Benz motorsports boss Norbert

9842_85

Haug to drive a CLK GTR car at the FIA GT Nürburgring 4 Hours in place of Alexander Wurz. However,

9842_86

he did agree to race for the AMG Mercedes team in the 1998 FIA GT Championship. Haug selected

9842_87

Webber after AMG Mercedes' Gerhard Ungar liked Webber's tenacity. Webber was paired with touring

9842_88

car driver Bernd Schneider, who mentored him driving-wise and in vehicle mechanics. Driving the 1

9842_89

Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, he and Schneider won five races and took eight podium finishes, finishing

9842_90

championship runner-up to teammates Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta after a title duel with the

9842_91

sister team lasting to the season's final round.

9842_92

In June 1998, Webber entered his first 24 Hours of Le Mans having pre-qualified due to Schneider's

9842_93

1997 FIA GT Championship win. He, Ludwig and Schnieder retired their Le Mans-specific CLK-LM car

9842_94

after 75 minutes due to a steering pump fault causing an engine failure. Late in the year, Campese

9842_95

Management managed Webber until Neal resumed her professional relationship with Webber; she

9842_96

suggested that Webber enter the International Formula 3000 (IF3000) in 1999 pending funding. Webber

9842_97

entered the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans after the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)

9842_98

abolished the FIA GT Championship GT1 category due to a lack of manufacturer entries for 1999.

9842_99

Sharing the No. 4 Mercedes-Benz CLR with Jean-Marc Gounon and Marcel Tiemann, an car aerodynamic

9842_100

fault caused Webber to go airborne in qualifying between Mulsanne Corner and Indianapolis corner

9842_101

and on the Mulsanne Straight in race-day warm up, forcing his withdrawal from the race.

9842_102

Webber's relationship with Mercedes-Benz cooled following Le Mans because he felt they were

9842_103

unworried about him. He rejected Haug's offer to compete in American open-wheel racing. Greg

9842_104

Moore's death in an accident in California in October 1999 prompted Webber to focus on European

9842_105

single-seater racing. His Mercedes-Benz contract was terminated around November following

9842_106

negotiations. Airline magnate Paul Stoddart, through talks with Jordan Grand Prix team owner Eddie

9842_107

Jordan, offered to underwrite $1.1 million for Webber to combine F3000 and planned Formula One (F1)

9842_108

testing. Webber signed to drive a Lola-Ford Zytek car for the Arrows F3000 team in the 2000 IF3000

9842_109

Championship, finishing third in the Drivers' Championship with 21 points, winning at Silverstone,