Another Sunday afternoon, another win for Red Bull. This time a maiden chequered flag for Mark Webber, and who could have begrudged the landmark for the well-liked Australian from Queanbeyan. It's been a hard slog for Webber, who looked like he would have chalked up a win a lot sooner after bursting on to the scene in 2002.
His debut was glorious. A fifth place with Minardi in front of his home fans in Melbourne suggested a stellar career with some dubbing him the new Michael Schumacher. All careers need luck as well as talent though, and Webber seemed lacking in that as his career became stuck in second gear.
A move to Jaguar didn't reap the rewards his speed deserved, and then he plumped to move to Williams, just as Sir Frank's team reached a low point. There was a suspicion his move to Red Bull Racing (RBR) might have had the same conclusion, but both the team and the driver have reached new heights this year.
It helps that he has real competition from his young teammate Sebastian Vettel. Webber's win last time out leaves him in third place in the driver's championship, just a point and a half behind the German. Both are edging towards Jenson Button and threatening to make a contest out of this season's competition.
Although Vettel has grabbed the plaudits with his two wins, Webber has been by far the most consistent of the pair. Both have five podiums, but Webber has always managed to finish this season's races and has seven points-scoring races to Vettel's six.
What's more astonishing is that he's managed this after breaking his leg in November. It was a long hard winter of recuperation and there was no guarantee he would be fit for Melbourne. It took a lot of Aussie grit, and no wonder there was a lot of whooping and yelling in the cockpit in Germany, as well as a 'you beauty!' over the radio to his team.
It was a win that would have been celebrated not just by RBR, but also by the whole paddock. He is well liked by all. Last year at Silverstone, I was chatting to a member of the iSport team in the GP2 paddock when Webber appeared behind the fence. The lady I was speaking to excused herself and ran over to say hello, followed by several others.
