page_title: Mark Webber
section_title: 2006
hierarchical_section_title: Mark Webber / Formula One career / Williams (2005–2006) / 2006
caption_attribution_description: Mark Webber driving for Williams at the 2006 French Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Mark Alan Webber AO is an Australian former professional racing driver, who last competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship as a Porsche works driver in LMP1, in which he won the championship in 2015. Webber won nine Formula One Grands Prix and finished third in the championship in 2010, 2011 and 2013, all of which achieved while driving for Red Bull Racing.
  After some racing success in Australia driving Formula Ford and Formula Holden, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career. Webber began a partnership with fellow Australian Paul Stoddart, at that time owner of the European Racing Formula 3000 team, which eventually took them both into Formula One when Stoddart bought the Minardi team. He also beat future F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, then 19, in the 2000 International Formula 3000 season.
  Webber made his Formula One debut in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at his and Stoddart's home race. After his first season, Jaguar took him on as lead driver. During two years with the generally uncompetitive team, Webber qualified on the front two rows of the grid several times and outperformed his teammates.
context_section_description: For the first time in Webber's career the first race of the season was not held in Melbourne, but in Bahrain, due to the original date clashing with the Commonwealth Games. Webber qualified 7th and had a solid race to finish 6th and pick up 3 Championship points. Although Webber was considered by some to have the better race performance, this was generally overlooked when Rosberg set the fastest lap in his debut race and moved up through the field despite a first-lap incident.
  Webber's two following races in Malaysia and Australia were cut short due to mechanical problems. In Malaysia, Webber started 4th on the grid and was still running in that position before a hydraulics failure ended his race on lap 14. In his home race, Webber qualified seventh and was leading the race before his gearbox failed on lap 22. Webber had taken the lead of the race on lap 21, becoming the first Australian to lead the Australian Grand Prix since John Bowe had done so in the early laps of the non-championship 1984 Australian Grand Prix. A sixth-place finish in San Marino saw Webber move up to 9th in the Championship. In the European Grand Prix, hydraulics failure struck again ending his race after he had fought his way back to 12th from his 19th place start on the grid due to a mid-weekend engine change.
  The Spanish Grand Prix marked the first time Webber failed to make the top 10 cut-off in the new qualifying system and he struggled during the race finishing ninth. Monaco, however, saw a huge improvement with Webber qualifying on the front row, after Michael Schumacher's grid penalty, holding third for a large part of the race before retiring when his exhaust burned a wiring loom. Webber's car was not as disadvantaged as at most other venues, as aerodynamic efficiency is not as important at Monaco.
  At the British Grand Prix, Webber was taken out on the first lap after an incident with Ralf Schumacher and Scott Speed. In France, Webber suffered a spectacular tyre blowout at maximum speed which he managed to control and return to the pits, parking in the garage. Germany was one of Webber's strongest races of the year where he was on target for a podium finish until mechanical failure stopped him with only 9 laps to go. The Hungarian Grand Prix was another retirement for Webber as he slid into a barrier in the wet conditions and crushed his front wing under the chassis of the Williams. He finished only 10th in Turkey, where despite running fourth after a first-lap accident, he struggled from then on.
  After another disappointing qualifying session at the Italian Grand Prix where he qualified 19th, he finished in tenth place. In China, Webber scored Williams's first point since Rosberg's 7th in the European Grand Prix by finishing eighth, after passing the struggling David Coulthard in the closing stages of the race, after qualifying 14th. He qualified in the same position in Japan, but a lack of grip from his Bridgestone tyres saw him crash out of the race after 39 laps. His last race for Williams and the final race of 2006 at the Brazilian Grand Prix ended in disappointment. After starting 11th, he collided with his teammate Rosberg on the first lap and suffered terminal damage to the rear of the car. Overall, Webber scored seventh points to finish 14th overall in the Drivers' Championship.
caption: Webber driving at the 2006 French Grand Prix
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