No Regrets: interview with Mark Webber

Mark Webber arrived at Williams as the soon-to-be king of Formula One and ended his first season with the team admitting his reputation had been severely dented. The car's performance, and his own, failed to live up to expectations and the results were disappointing to say the least.

But was it he or Williams who were to blame?

Australian Webber radiates positivity, he did at the start of the year and he still does at the end, but you could not blame him for taking a dim view of his debut season with Williams. Sure, he scored his first Formula One podium, in Monaco, but that was supposed to be just the start. In fact, it was just about the end.

Despite his tough year he steers clear of criticism but, when asked if he was confident in the team he has around him now, his body language gave one answer and his words another. "Erm, yes, I have to be," he replied, with a clearly pointed shrug of the shoulders. "I have to trust their judgement from what we have learned this year to get the most out of next year."

He is continuously prepared to tow the company line and does not lay the blame on anyone but himself, but behind closed doors he cannot help but admit problems in the design halls at Grove. "I'll keep taking the blame mate," he quips as the interview comes to an end. But that is the one of the few hints he offers that things are anything but rosy.

Team boss Frank Williams, technical director Sam Michael and part-team owner Patrick Head, whose role with the team has become less defined since he handed over the technical reigns to Michael in mid-2004, have had some heavy thinking to do this year, a year that has been one of the most turbulent in the team's long history.

But some key decisions within the team clearly made Webber less than happy. He was left fuming after his podium in Monaco, because a call from the pit wall caused him to drop behind teammate Nick Heidfeld and miss out on second. Then, just as Williams were showing promise, he was baffled by an engineering call that dropped them down the pack.

"We were going along in a certain direction, then mid-season the direction changed in terms of mechanical and aero," Webber recalled, pointing out the reason for a slump that began at the Canadian Grand Prix. "We tried different things because we wanted to get to the front but it backfired in the short-term and we had to recover."

Q. That is the sort of thing you have to do when you are on the back foot though, isn't it?

Webber: "Well, it's the sort of thing that Williams do, and it is what most racers do - a bit more aggressive and sometimes you get egg on your face."

Q. You have got to say some of that judgement this year has not been good.

Webber: "Well, we have had some reasonably public...in terms of the performance...you cannot hide on race weekends, there it is, bang! If you have a tough weekend you have got nowhere to hide. If you have a fantastic weekend you get rewarded, everyone thinks you are a legend. There is no grey area in this sport. It is a fine line between the Whitehouse and the Shithouse, that's the way it is, always has been, always will be. Of course, things this year have been on the negative point of view but we will be back."

Q. Are there any changes you see needed at the team in terms of the operational side of things?

Webber (with another shrug of the shoulders): "Erm, I think it's fine. I think Sam and Frank and Patrick have got all that under control and they can understand more why the team is working the way it is and what is for the future. As a driver I am not involved in that at all."

Webber was openly confident in the Williams men before he arrived, declaring his excitement that they were pure racers, of a similar mind to him. He had been used to the corporate minefield that was Jaguar, land of the ever-changing team boss, and was looking forward to a fresh, positive, forward-looking mindset. What he walked into was an internal battle between a breaking partnership.

With BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen getting closer and closer to convincing the company to run their own team and Frank Williams determined not to move away from his privateer status, the clash had been building for some time. The German company wanted more control of the team, they wanted a say in the car design as well as the engine, and Williams would not provide it.

Peter Sauber, meanwhile, was open to offers and as talks developed between the Swiss team boss and Theissen, the gap between BMW and Williams continued to grow. The atmosphere had not been harmonious for some time, that was clear from the tortoise poster put up at by BMW engineers criticising the performance of Williams's car in 2003, but all involved admitted it worsened still in 2005.

So, for Webber, has the biggest factor been the BMW thing?

"I don't think so," he said. "I am a big believer these days that you really are at the mercy of aerodynamic performance. It is very important. Ferrari showed this year they haven't got the best car aerodynamically. McLaren have, probably. A few horsepower here and there is a few tenths, I think any driver in the pitlane would say it is nice to have horsepower but it is also nice to have a car that is driveable.

"It can snowball so quickly in this game, so you have to be careful. You no longer have the time to develop things in the fashion that you would like and we obviously saw Ferrari brought their car out in Bahrain too early and had reliability problems, McLaren started off a little bit on the back foot too and with us we had a reasonable start to the year, a very, very tough middle part of the year and the last part of the year has been reasonable."

Q. So who is to blame?

Webber: "There are many contributing factors to it, there have been a few screw-ups from my side but some of the things from the outside that look like driver errors there have been a reason for, like the drive in Suzuka was the same drive I did at Silverstone, for instance, but when you don't have the performance you don't see it. The effort is still there. It's the same with Michael (Schumacher). People will say he is over it now but he has had a hard year performance-wise."

People will also say, and already have, that Webber is not the driver they thought he was. Known as a man who could match the best computer simulations for pace in a single lap, Webber was, as expected, fast, qualifying in the top two rows in six of the opening seven races. In the opening race, in Australia, he equalled his best ever finish with fifth.

But it was teammate Nick Heidfeld who was the first to hand the team a podium, at the second race of the season in Malaysia, and he then went on to claim the second place at Monaco that frustrated Webber, then pole position and another second place in the following race at the Nurburgring in Germany. So, does Webber think his reputation has suffered this year?

Webber: "It hasn't improved, has it."

Q. No. I guess when you got here did you didn't expect to be sitting here at the end of the year saying you haven't won your first Grand Prix yet, did you?

Webber: "Well, I had expected to have a lot more podiums, of course, but it hasn't happened, you know. We will just move on. It is water under the bridge, it's gone, they are not there. The race win will eventually come. It is like the podium did. It came and went, it felt quite empty, I was flying home that night from Monaco and I was, yeah, podium, but big deal."

Q. So, not your greatest race?

Webber: "There have been some better drives than Monaco but you don't get the result because there is less attrition. I think Monaco was a good afternoon for the whole team, obviously I believe I was the strongest Williams driver and Nick's side of the garage had a bit of a strategy call which meant he was second, I was third, that's the way it goes, that was fine. So it was a bit of an empty podium for me because I thought it should absolutely no question have been second place through no fault of my own."

But there were also the collisions. The first with Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella, in Malaysia, when the pair were fighting for the final place on the podium and handed it to Heidfeld when they hit each other, the next at the Nurburgring, again where Heidfeld profited as Webber hit Montoya, and then in Turkey, when Webber came together with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

Racing-wise, he has had a few problems. So is it hands-up time?

Webber: "Yeah. Nurburgring for sure, I hit Juan Pablo. But I am not sitting here wanting more luck, you make your own luck and you have got to be at the front, away from the sh*t and doing a better job of that. Fernando started in the pack in Budapest and lost his front wing. Things happen there.

Q. The one with Michael was interesting.

Webber: "It was a no-brainer, really. He fucked up, didn't he. Ask all the other drivers, I was well and truly in there."

Q. Did you confront him?

Webber: "Yeah, he said he just lost me in the mirrors, which is easy to say."

Q. And you took that as acceptable?

Webber: "Well, no, I took that as he was bright red in the face!"

Q. He was a very big ally of yours, he always praised you and said you were very talented. Did that incident change things?

Webber: "No, I don't think so. He was not worried about it really, he was going nowhere in the race."

Q. He always used to say this guy is going to take over from me, so it must be disappointing to see Fernando and Kimi going off this year?

Webber: "No, I think it is great for the sport, those two guys. But Jenson, myself, any other young guy, I am sure we could do a good job, whether we would do the same job, that is what it is all about, that last little part. Kimi is obviously very rare in terms of his mistakes, he is very good, he has bombed a few quali laps here and there but that happens when you are on the edge. But we are all different. The sport is healthy, even if Michael comes back next year and they are going to make him a more competitive car he will be fighting with the rest of us."

But there clearly were some problems with Schumacher. At the controversy-hit United States Grand Prix, Webber had disagreed with the German's opinions. In Turkey, Webber said, Schumacher was "un-sportsmanlike" and added: "Sometimes even when he is in the shit he doesn't like to give or take." Then Webber was voted off the Grand Prix Drivers' Association before the end of the year.

Not that he was bothered by that - he was more concerned by the problems within Williams, the fact that they had gone from front-runners to the other end of the grid because of an engineering direction change, the fact that they had gambled and lost, and the fact that event-based mistakes like getting his legs burned in the car were allowed to creep in.

"Bahrain I was getting burned in the car and things like that, I couldn't use first gear, and the team know that," said Webber. "There have been lots of different little scenarios, Brazil, you know, it has just been unfortunate. I have learned a lot, it hasn't been a season wasted in terms of not learning anything, but things did not turn out as planned.

"Obviously, it has been interesting to see the way people have reacted and the way you react yourself if things don't go right. It has been a tough one. We expected a lot more. Renault and McLaren have been the form teams, there has been a bit of desperation along the way but it has been a hard season for everyone, the drivers, team, BMW, the whole season has been difficult.

"We could have extracted a bit more out of it, we could have done something to be less than 100 points or so in the constructors' behind Renault and McLaren, so it was a tough season for us. But I was always realistic. As soon as I got here I pushed like hell to get Nick here to make sure I had it tough. I wanted to be tested. That's what it is about.

"It is nice to have an easier life than we have had this year, there is no doubt about it, and I look back on this year and it has been a missed year in a way, we didn't get the results and overall performance that we wanted, in some ways I couldn't wait for the season to finish, other ways I wanted to keep going and get better results. But it is over now."

It may be a blessing, of course, for Webber to have had a tough season this year as he has the kind of character, as do Williams, to be able to bounce back from adversity and come back strong. Jenson Button did it when he struggled in his early days at Benetton and came out the other end a better driver, and Webber feels if Button could do that, so can he.

"Every sportsman is totally unrealistic to think they are not going to have a bit of adversity during their career," said Webber. "In top-flight sport, boxer, golfer, whatever, you are going to have a few times where you get frustrated. I have always been pretty cool, but it is obviously clearly frustrating, for the guys as well, it is so hard to talk to them.

"I couldn't tell them it will be right the next race because I am realistic. But I think it is good, every now and again, to get a kick in the balls, because then when the good moments happen you enjoy them more. Even my mate Mick Doohan had a season or two when things snowballed for him, he got injuries, he missed a lot of testing.

"I haven't done much testing all year because of different reasons, the burns, lots of stupid little things that have happened. But I am a massive believer in the fact that you make your own luck, I am not going to say I deserve more luck, I don't want to make excuses. The facts are there, look at the scoreboard. That's where we are at."

Button, of course, was almost Webber's teammate at Williams for 2006, except he saw how things were going for the Australian and Williams and decided he was not up for the challenge. Button U-turned to stay with BAR and while it was a decision that Webber admits was the right one, it was also one that disappointed him greatly.

Q. Were you pissed off Jenson is not coming?

Webber: "Absolutely, really disappointed, because I remember talking to Frank a lot about it happening and then Jenson going back and wanting to stay at BAR because he feels the future is better there for him, which is totally his call."

Q. Did you speak to him about it?

Webber: "Often. Well, we spoke a few times, in Canada and a few other places, and we were just adults about it, you know. Jenson didn't come down in the last shower in terms of where he thought his future was and that is the decision he made. I was disappointed that Jenson didn't come."

Q. It seems to be the right call for him to stay at BAR.

Webber: "Absolutely. Even if we had had quite a strong year here at Williams he would still be of the opinion that he is happy where he is and that is the way it has turned out for him. I think he would have been disappointed to leave that environment that he has built up around himself for quite a few years now. That is the whole reason behind it."

Q. It almost gives you the opportunity to do a similar thing here.

Webber: "It might be a bit harder for me to do it here, but I think that because Frank's with his team and it is very much a Williams thing that the driver is just part of the team, and that is fine, to do what Michael did at Ferrari is obviously not going to be possible. Jenson won't do that at Honda either."

Q. Jenson was always Frank's blue-eyed boy, but now he is in the bad books it looks good for you again.

Webber: "Yeah, I think so. I hope that I can reward the faith that Frank has put into me. It has been a tough year for everyone, there have been a few ups and a few struggles. Nick out-drove me in Hungary but generally everywhere else there have been incidents and stuff..."

Webber continually states he is ready to take on all comers at Williams, and he will take on highly-rated German Nico Rosberg next year. But if it were down to his manager Flavio Briatore he would have been taking on this year's World Champion Fernando Alonso at Renault had a planned driver swap with Fisichella come off. So was it the right decision to go to Williams?

Webber: "I don't have any regrets at all. You can't hit the rewind button. Flavio was quite keen for me to go to Renault, I was quite keen to come here. The decision I took was to do that and I will do everything I can here to get the most out of it. Renault, who knows what might have happened there? If they didn't get the results they have done maybe they wouldn't still be in Formula One. They have had a great season so they are on a different plane now. We are here because we are. You can't crystal ball it. Hindsight is a great thing."

Q. What do you reckon you would have done if you had gone up against the World Champion, as we can call him now?

Webber: "Fernando is very, very strong. It would be great to be in the same team as him to see how he operates. You would have a really good idea. Obviously he has got qualifying coming on because he has learned a lot off Jarno (Trulli), Jarno was very good at that, and his race pace is very, very strong and the car has gone around him in terms of he has got the team how he wants the team, he can tell them what to do."

Q. He has been amazingly consistent too.

Webber: "Yeah, fantastic, all season. We probably won't see another one like that from him again, we might do. But Kimi has been great too. Formula One is in great shape. But I could be there. I am always hard on myself and you are all in the boat together. How can one guy be out on his own, you know, if Williams has a hard season is Webber still a legend? It is not balanced, is it? Fernando's stocks are high, Fisi has had a tough year but Renault's stocks are high, but obviously things could all change in two races next year already."

Things can, indeed, change very quickly in Formula One. Just look at Ferrari. If Williams, now with engine partners Cosworth and Ferrari's tyre supplier Bridgestone, can get things right in all areas, those days of fighting for podiums could soon be back, and those long-awaited victories could soon be falling in Webber's lap.

There may be differences of agreement within the team, not that Webber will reveal that on the record, but there is also a strong determination to turn things around. Williams have been working with Cosworth on integrating their new engine and were given design data from Bridgestone well before the deal was announced to ensure the car suited their tyres. So they are not just sitting back, they are doing all they can to come back.

But Webber always used to have an ultimate confidence that he was going to get a World Championship, it was just a matter of when. So, all things considered, does he still feel that?

"Yeah, eventually," he responded quickly. "But I have got to win races and get through a few other hurdles before we do that. And whether we can do that in the short term, well, we will have to wait and see."

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