RELEASED: Wednesday June 24, 2015

Australian Story - Mark Webber: Driven

Screens Monday June 29, 8pm on ABC

Introduced by friend and former Australian cricketer, Steve Waugh

“, it is very political. It doesn’t take any prisoners, it is definitely not for the faint-hearted,” , former F1 team owner.

“When you get different nationalities, when you've got more money than you can poke a stick at, egos that you can't jump over, it's always going to be a nice melting pot for aggravation,” Alan Jones, Australian F1 world champion.

“You start to see there’s actually just so much personal interest in certain decisions, like wow, that’s probably not in the best interest of the sport. I just happened to be one of the jokers in the game,” Mark Webber.

“Our relationship is totally wrapped up in one another and the motor racing. I suppose we’re just soul mates,” Ann Neal, partner and manager.

How did a boy from an ordinary family make it to the top of Formula One? How did he succeed when thousands of others saw their dreams crash and burn?

Mark Webber’s rise through the ranks of motor sport is a boy’s own annual of spectacular successes, frustrating failures and some hair-raising crashes along the way.

In an exclusive interview prior to the publication of his autobiography, Mark Webber lifts the lid on the high octane world of Formula One racing and candidly discusses the politics and the rivalries that dogged his career.

Webber’s hard slog to the top was inspired by his father Alan. A Jack Brabham fan, Alan and his wife Diane used the family inheritance to give Mark a chance.

“The support I had from my parents was incredible,” said Mark Webber.

Mark also speaks candidly about the relationship that has been central to his success with his partner and manager Englishwoman Ann Neal.

He met Ann when he was only 18 and she urged him to move to Europe to pit himself against the world’s best.

Once in the UK, their relationship turned from professional to personal as they together strove tirelessly for the holy grail - a seat in a Formula One team.

The decade-plus age difference troubled Mark’s parents and the relationship was kept under wraps for many years.

“If I was going to talk to a team boss or a sponsor, if I rocked in there saying, ‘Oh my partner, my boyfriend’, I mean it just sounded naff,” said Ann Neal.

Mark Webber’s debut F1 race in Melbourne in 2002 is still the stuff of legend. Sometimes called ‘the unluckiest man in F1’, Webber had 132 Grand Prix starts before his first win in Germany in 2009 with the Redbull team.

The next goal was the World Championship but his teammate, a young and brilliant German driver called , blocked his path.

Mark Webber and Ann Neal provide insights into one of the great rivalries of modern racing.

“He (Sebastian Vettel) said he had massive respect for me as a driver but not so much as a person, so that affected the relationship obviously,” Mark Webber said.

Driven is a fascinating glimpse into life behind the Formula One pit wall.

Co-producers: Vanessa Gorman (0415 322 933) and Roger Carter (0418 215 289)

KNOW THE STORY – AUSTRALIAN STORY

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