Thursday 27th June 2013

Webber joins Porsche

No more 'not bad for a number two driver' or 'multi 21' nonsense as Webber quits F1 to lead Porsche's Le Mans effort

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Added spice has been thrown into the mix for the British Grand Prix with confirmation of Mark Webber's long rumoured move to Porsche's LMP1 sportscar team for next year. Freed from having to bite his lip to protect his F1 seat for next year that could make the remainder of Vettel's season slightly less comfortable than he'd have hoped as Webber looks to settle a few scores before returning to prototypes and Le Mans.

No more 'number two driver' for Webber

Webber is a long-time Porsche fan out of hours, and a regular face at Porsche's Human Performance Centre at Silverstone. A serial 911 owner his @AussieGrit twitter handle is reflected by his choice of a GT2 RS, a car he describes as "a bit naughty" in this video interview with 'Long Way Doune' man Gordon Robertson.

"It's an honour for me to join Porsche at its return to the top category in Le Mans and in the sports car World Endurance Championship," Webber is quoted in an Porsche press release that, between the lines, drips with relief at turning his back on the F1 soap opera at Red Bull. "I'm very much looking forward to this new challenge after my time in Formula 1. Porsche will undoubtedly set itself very high goals. I can hardly wait to pilot one of the fastest sports cars in the world."

Webber raced FIA GT with Mercedes before F1

Porsche's Wolfgang Hatz is equally effusive in the same statement. "I'm very pleased to have secured Mark Webber for our LMP1 project as one of the best and most successful Formula 1 pilots of our time. Mark is without doubt one of the world's best race drivers, he has experience at the Le Mans 24 hour race and on top of that he's been a Porsche enthusiast for many years."

Before F1 Webber raced in the FIA GT series for Mercedes alongside F1 safety car driver Bernd Maylander, DTM uberlord Bernd Schneider and the legendary Klaus Ludwig and was runner up in the 1998 season. 1999 will be remembered for matching Peter Dumbreck's airborne adventures at Le Mans in the CLK GTR derived CLR but few are doubting Webber's credentials to carry the considerable weight of expectation for Porsche's return to the sharp end of the Le Mans grid.

[leerdam23]

Come on Kimi...

[Dusty964]

Interesting news.
Hopefully Porsche will return and end the Audi stranglehold.

[NotNormal]

Fair play to him, great opportunity following on from his time F1.

Look forward to the added competition as more manufacturers and big names enter the world of sports car racing

[161BMW]

Always admired Mark Webber for his strength and determination. I wish him well for his future and for Porsche :-)

[Centurion07]

It's nice to think that he could finally give Vettel a closer race now he no longer has to play the number two driver to protect his seat, but does anyone honestly think that if he shows ANY signs of actually RACING Seb that Red Bull won't nobble his car in some way?

[CANED]

Awesome news, 2014 really can't come any sooner.

[jet_noise]

Dear All,

form a phone tap today:

"Can I speak to Christian, please?"
"Who shall I say is calling?
"Lewis here..."

regards,
Jet

[Otispunkmeyer]

Exciting news.

I watched as much of the Le Mans 24 as I could this year, along with catching any of the ALMS, ELMS races where I could. Utterly hooked on it as a form of racing. I think it shows F1 up a little bit, at the 24 they seemed to be bombing around there at 10/10ths for 24 hours, especially in the GTE classes. In F1 we are being treated to a parade where they drive around at 6/10ths to preserve the tyres, or if its not tyres, they've gone so marginal on fuel to save weight that they're lapping at 8/10ths to actually finish.

I thought endurance races would be dull. They are not. Cannot wait to see Porsche bring it to Audi in 2014.

[Jezz172]

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

form a phone tap today:

"Can I speak to Christian, please?"
"Who shall I say is calling?
"Lewis here..."

regards,
Jet

"Sorry Lewis Who?"
"We have Kimi already on the other line...."

[CocoUK]

Top bloke.

He will be remembered in F1 as a tough but fair racer with lots of great racing moments. He certainly had more than his fair share of bad luck and unfortunately found himself teamed with one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen.

Good timing to leave as well, the sport is not how it should be with the tyre situation, RedBull are quite clearly a one driver team plus we have the massive rule changes coming on-board next season. To leave all that behind and join Porsche as they return to sports-cars, well perhaps he does get some good luck!


Very thoughtful to see him pick his home-from-home race at Silverstone for the announcement. Throw a few quid on him as he goes rather well here, two wins and a couple of podiums in his last four outings.

Top bloke.

[andy_roe]

I wonder if Audi will be under "Team Orders" to hand the win to Porsche in 2014 since VW own both Audi and Porsche? Are VW still planning to come to F1 in 2015?

[LordPetroleum]

What a top man Webber really is..... non of the foot stamping, spoilt child pretense we see (or dont get to) of certain 'number 1' team drivers. Just a proper PH, rolls up sleeves and gets on with the job. Possibly the racer driver version of Paul Scholes.

Good man Mark, have fun at Porsche and dont forget to give the middle finger salute on the way out of Red Bull

[VladD]

Centurion07 said:

It's nice to think that he could finally give Vettel a closer race now he no longer has to play the number two driver to protect his seat, but does anyone honestly think that if he shows ANY signs of actually RACING Seb that Red Bull won't nobble his car in some way?

Red Bull have a constructors championship win. Of course that doesn't stop them replacing Webber with someone more compliant before the season is finished.

I wish Mark the best of luck. I was just planning on doing the LM Classic next year, but Webber in a LMP1 may mean attending the full event can't be missed. May have to do both.

[CocoUK]

The Crack Fox said:

Jezz172 said:

jet_noise said:

Dear All,

form a phone tap today:

"Can I speak to Christian, please?"
"Who shall I say is calling?
"Lewis here..."

regards,
Jet

"Sorry Lewis Who?"
"We have Kimi already on the other line...."

"Jacque, you can't sleep in our reception any more, you smell and we're never going to give you a drive. Get out"

"Now Helmut, I know you have worked jolly hard on the Red Bull driver development programme, however, Danny and Jean aren't quite, how you say, 'mustard on sausage', so we're going for Kimi...*run*"

[CocoUK]

LordPetroleum said:

What a top man Webber really is..... non of the foot stamping, spoilt child pretense we see (or dont get to) of certain 'number 1' team drivers.

That's because he's a 'number 2'...

[Bear Phils]

PH Article said:

'not bad for a number two driver'

That's because he will be number 3

[struttob]

For my money this is great news, for us, for the WEC, for Le Mans, and for Mark, as he is much better than a number 2, as I am sure we will now see for the rest of the F1 season (hopefully)

Watch your mirrors Vettel - Weber is coming !

Oh and Christian - it will be pretty obvious if you hobble him !!

Bob

[hyper jay]

exelent news but no real big supprise.

so silverstone wec if the dates are simular to this year will be the first webber/porsche outing

[Krikkit]

PW said:

andy_roe said:

I wonder if Audi will be under "Team Orders" to hand the win to Porsche in 2014 since VW own both Audi and Porsche? Are VW still planning to come to F1 in 2015?

Porsche have stated before that they want to compete against Audi and beat them fairly to prove they are best, not be handed success by the VAG board, and I'm fairly sure Audi have said the same about fighting Porsche.

I think they're both smart enough to know that the sportscar audience is typically well informed enough that such antics would be easily seen through, and won't appreciate being taken for idiots.

It would be stupid to hold either back anyway - they run the risk of coming away with nothing if Audi have to play second fiddle, Porsche drop the ball and the rest of the competition swoop in and clean up.

Exactly - if Toyota are going to race as hard next year it would be madness to try and limit your own cars for a PR coup.

[VladD]

Krikkit said:

PW said:

andy_roe said:

I wonder if Audi will be under "Team Orders" to hand the win to Porsche in 2014 since VW own both Audi and Porsche? Are VW still planning to come to F1 in 2015?

Porsche have stated before that they want to compete against Audi and beat them fairly to prove they are best, not be handed success by the VAG board, and I'm fairly sure Audi have said the same about fighting Porsche.

I think they're both smart enough to know that the sportscar audience is typically well informed enough that such antics would be easily seen through, and won't appreciate being taken for idiots.

It would be stupid to hold either back anyway - they run the risk of coming away with nothing if Audi have to play second fiddle, Porsche drop the ball and the rest of the competition swoop in and clean up.

Exactly - if Toyota are going to race as hard next year it would be madness to try and limit your own cars for a PR coup.

Just need Bentley back in the mix now.