Interview: Webber is Ready for Formula One

Formula One novice Mark Webber has had Michael Schumacher taped for years but only now is the Australian in a position to race against him.

The 25-year-old Webber, who will be Australia's first Grand Prix driver since 1994 when he makes his debut for Minardi in Melbourne in a month's time, say he has always been a big fan of Ferrari's four-times World Champion.

"When I started go-karts he was just starting in Formula One. I still had a lot of his victories on (video) tape before I came to Europe," Webber said in an interview. "I taped every one of the races and I used to tape over the ones he didn't win. But the ones he did win I kept and I still have them now. He's pretty special, obviously."

Yet it is another four-time World Champion who holds an even more exalted place in the Australian's estimation, a man who will be missing from Melbourne on March 3rd.

Webber is a big believer in fate and by a strange twist he signed for Minardi on the same day that the team run by Alain Prost, his favourite driver, went into liquidation.

"I used to love the way he used to nurse things initially," Webber said of watching the little French 'Professor', often in the depths of the Australian night. "Those were the days when you could look after tyres and fuel... I used to love watching Prost and then Michael."

With Minardi now owned by aviation millionaire Paul Stoddart, Webber will become the first Australian to drive for an Australian-owned team since 1971. To say he is eager would be an understatement.

The mere thought of turning out in front of tens of thousands of cheering Australians is enough to get "the old butterflies in the stomach going," as he says.

Although there is a world of difference between the sharp end of the grid inhabited by Schumacher and Minardi's familiar place at the back, Webber is keen to show what he can do.

"I'm long overdue, I'm ready for it," he said. "I'm absolutely fit and ready like you wouldn't believe. I'm pumped up for it."

Australian Grand Prix boss Ron Walker summed up the feeling and expectation with typical Australian directness. "Look out the rest of them, here comes the Aussie at last," he declared. "Everyone's been waiting for a young Australian to get on the grid. I think people will come around to watch Mark as they did with Alan Jones and Mick Doohan in motorcycling."

The man from Queanbeyan has had to put up with some hard knocks on the way to securing his place among the world's elite drivers. "The route from Australian bush to Formula One is a bit different and the effort to get here hasn't been all my own doing," Webber admitted.

At one time, when he was starting out in British Formula Three, Webber was so short of cash that he feared he would have to give up until Wallabies rugby union great David Campese came to his rescue with A$100,000 dollars.

"He's from Queanbeyan and he's a family friend," Webber says. "My dad played rugby union with him. I was third in my Formula Three championship after no testing and things... no one wants to hear excuses but it was hard. And Campo came up with the goods, he saved me big time."

Campese, a big motorsport fan, will be competing in a celebrity race at Melbourne before witnessing his friend break into the big time at last.

One of the biggest moments in Webber's past came at the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours race when the Australian was driving for the Mercedes factory team. Webber's car twice flipped, rising almost vertically, in practice and Scottish teammate Peter Dumbreck then flew off the track and into trees.

Miraculously, neither driver was hurt but Mercedes pulled out of the event and ended its sportscar programme for the year - leaving Webber kicking his heels.

He had to answer endless question about the incident for months afterwards but has now put what happened out of his mind. "I rarely think about it. It was a horrible weekend, there's no question about that," he says.

"Motorsport doesn't want weekends like that and we were very lucky to get away with nobody hurt. The two months after that were phenomenal, I was out training and just thrashing myself every day - I suppose in a bit of frustration as well and hoping for that opportunity."

Webber broke into Formula 3000, finishing runner-up last year to Briton Justin Wilson while also holding down the job of Benetton test driver. Now he has traded places with Spaniard Fernando Alonso, taking the Minardi slot filled by the 20-year-old Renault test driver last year alongside Malaysian Alex Yoong.

"It's a reward for the hard work but I don't expect anything to be handed to me on a plate," said Webber, a fitness fanatic who recently cycled from one end of Britain to the other for charity.

"I'll be pushing very hard, not just in the car in terms of driving the thing but also working with the team.

"I really do think that we can say that Minardi have stepped up and done a good job. To get a couple of points would be great, we haven't had them for a long time.

"Every session, every lap is pressure now... I have to perform, there's no question of that."