F1 ace Mark Webber talks exclusively to Yahoo Sport UK1. Your...

F1 ace Mark Webber talks exclusively to Yahoo Sport UK

1. Your book is called ‘Aussie Grit’ – is having “grit” something you think Aussies and Brits have in common?

Yes, Aussies, definitely, because we have to come from a long way away to compete - that’s a quality a lot of sportsmen and women need to compete on the international stage. They don’t have the comfort of being at home all the time or the security net of the family, so you need to do a lot of work on your own. Sports people in general need that determination, drive and individual focus; you can put that under the grit banner of wanting to achieve things and be successful. That’s a quality you need in the sporting space and a lot of English people have that, too.

2. Who’s the greatest motor racing driver of all time? And how do you rank alongside them?

With the different generations it’s hard to compared the guys. Michael Schumacher in the 70s: would that have worked? Who knows, because Michael did make a few mistakes and errors to find the limit of that car in the generation he drove, so he might not have worked well in that generation because the cars were much more dangerous. Whereas Jackie Stewart, Jimmy Clark and Fangio, they were very measured in their approach, where later on we could be more flamboyant and have less consequences. It’s very hard to compare all the guys with their strengths and weaknesses. There are a selected five, though, with Senna, Fangio, Stewart, Schumacher and Prost - those guys all are in that exceptional window. I’m definitely not in that list, I’m a long way from it. But it was great to certainly race against one of them at least in Michael.

3. Who’s the best driver on the planet right now?

The best F1 driver right now is still a toss up between Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, but they’re all in different scenarios at the moment to be able to compare them.

4. What’s the most boring Grand Prix track in the world? Or, if not boring, the easiest? And the hardest?

Bahrain is not the most stimulating venue for a lot of drivers. There are lots of straights with second gear corners. There is not much speed in the track and it’s a very low-grip track as it’s generally hot temperatures there. Suzuka is the hardest track in the world in my opinion, very narrow and extremely fast. It’s very easy to be sucked into an error on that track and that’s when a driver is to drop lap times in there at a high level, it’s a very tough track.

5. Cricket: who’s going to win the Ashes? And what’s the score going to be?

Australia! There will be a few draws maybe and they will win either 2:1 or 3:1.

6. Who’s the greatest sports star in history?

Muhammad Ali. He was Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all rolled into one. He was an absolute global brand because more of his antics occurred outside of the ring than in the ring. He had this uncanny ability to tell people what he was going to do in the ring. There aren’t many sportspeople who can say this is what they are going to do in the competition and then go out and do it consistently at that level. He did [prison] time and had an incredibly interesting life and journey, which still shows now how tough and courageous he is. What a tough and incredible character.

7. Apart from your own, what’s the last book you read? What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

The last book would have been aviation related to get my license to fly helicopters; that was more of a functional, educational piece. I enjoyed Steve Waugh’s book, ‘Out of my Comfort Zone’, he is an Australian cricketer.

8. Are you going to be checking Amazon to read your book’s reviews? What’s the worst thing someone could say in a review about your book? And the best?

You hope that people of course enjoy the book and maybe try and get something out of it. The book is my journey and what happened for me personally, so it might not be what everyone wants to read, or they might be surprised by a few things, but that’s how I saw my career and my journey unfold. If they can get something from the book and it gives them some information they didn’t know before in terms of junior categories or people I had to deal with, or work with, good and bad, and the trials and tribulations of that, that’s good. If they don’t like it - they might want more information; there might be sections they feel are underdone - I can’t do much about that.

9. Have you ever been starstuck meeting another sports man or woman?

I think meeting David Beckham at Silverstone was pretty powerful; he had good presences about him. There were a few things about him that surprised me: for instance, he was a lot taller than I imagined. There aren’t many guys that do have that presence, but David certainly had that and it was great to meet him and chat to him.

10. If you hadn’t been a racing driver, what would you have done for a job?

I would either have worked at my dad’s petrol station or become a plumber. In terms of sports, it would maybe have been tennis, but I definitely started too late and wasn’t good enough.

11. What’s your greatest ever achievement in life not related to sport?

My relationship with Annie [Ann Neal, Mark’s manager and partner for nearly 20 years] has been very special and the fact we have been together for that long in such an environment has been incredible for both of us.

12. Where does Lewis Hamilton stand in the pantheon of British drivers?

He is certainly up there; he has a lot of victories and two Championships. Obviously it’s a huge industry here; F1 has always had a lot of teams in the UK. With Moss, Stewart, Mansell, Damon Hill, Graham Hill and all the World Champions they’ve had over the years, there are very deep tree roots in terms of that success and Lewis is certainly part of that now. I think he has a few more World Championships in him, so he could probably win the most world titles out of any English driver.

13. What do you think about drivers like Lewis Hamilton’s celeb life mixing with his racing – is it a distraction? Should he focus on driving?

It’s a complete personal choice; you could have said that about Beckham and lots of other people, how they go about getting the best out of themselves. If that’s something Lewis likes to do away from the track, and it’s the lifestyle he likes to have, then why not? It’s not for everyone, it’s not for me. It might not be something for perhaps Federer or Djokovic, but every now and then you get a guy that has a different approach.

[Interview: Rich Stonehouse]

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