Shop
Alan Webber says he believes the World Endurance Championship is more dangerous than Formula One and is happy to support his son’s retirement.
Despite still being competitive at the age of 40, Webber made his mind up earlier this year that he will step down from competitive driving at the end of the season.
After a 26-year career which included nine Formula One victories, Webber will hang up his helmet when he steps out of his 919 Hybrid LMP1 Porsche after the final round of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain this weekend.
The WEC events combine four classes of car headed by the hi-tech LMP1 machines which top more than 350km/h down the straights at Le Mans.
The category has seen several spectacular high-speed accidents in recent years caused through ‘speed differences’, including a massive crash involving Mark Webber in the final round of the 2014 championship in Sao Paulo.
More recent accidents have included fellow Porsche driver Brendon Hartley at the opening round at Silverstone earlier this year.
“Mark is ready to give it away. He can see the dangers there now,” Alan told Speedcafe.com in Bahrain.
“I think this category is more dangerous than Formula 1. That’s just my opinion.
“Dealing with three other categories within the one race and some of them are 20 seconds a lap off an LMP1 car at times.
“When those cars are braking at the 140-150m marker and you are sailing past in an LMP1 car at 330km/h, of course it’s a bit scary.
“As a father it’s a bit mind boggling to watch all that.
“I will miss it for sure, but we head into the next chapter for him (Mark).
“Mark’s had a few incidents over the years. He is happy to give it away and I will certainly support that decision and his mother is extremely please about it.”
Webber senior remains supremely proud of his son’s first F1 win at the Nurburgring in 2009 which took 132 starts in grand prix racing to break through.
The time Mark Webber took to post the maiden F1 triumph was 36 more race starts than New Zealand great Chris Amon, who is regarded as one of the most talented drivers of all time not to clinch an F1 victory.
Amon had 96 F1 starts from 1963 to 1976 and while he recorded five pole positions and 11 podium finishes, he was destined not to win an F1 race.
“I thought he might turn out like the late Chris Amon, who was a great driver, world recognised, but never fortunate to win a grand prix,” Alan Webber told Speedcafe.com.
“I thought at one stage Mark might go through that.
“As we know, he didn’t, and I was able to be there for the first win at the Nurburgring in 2009 and that was a very emotional time.
“That sticks out, but there has been plenty since. A couple of Monaco wins, two British grand prix wins.
“He was not able to have a win in Australia, but that was just not meant to be.”
Alan, who has been a rock of support for Mark throughout his career, will be trackside to see the chequered flag drop for the final time tonight.
“It has been a wonderful time,” said Alan.
“I honestly started him in go-karts to keep him off the streets.
“I had built a ‘servo’ in Queanbeyan which I had leased to Caltex, so that freed up my weekends and off we went.
“Hopefully we have not used anyone along the way, but there is a lot of people to thank for what has been a wonderful, wonderful ride, especially for his old man who was a bit of an F1 nut.”
The tributes have flowed thick and fast for Webber from all sections of the sport since he announced he will be hanging up the helmet.
“I think he is highly regarded amongst his peers,” said Alan.
“His feet are firmly on the ground and he is a pretty good bloke by Australian standards and that is just as important to me as a father.
“He is still at the top of his game and to be able to secure five year deal with Porsche is tremendous.
“Hopefully he will have an enough time to give me a tour through the Porsche Museum.”
