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Red Bull F1 Boss Shares a True Example of Mark Webber’s Grit Ahead of 2009 Season

Published 12/08/2021, 3:54 AM EST

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Formula One is an intensive sport, drivers need to be a hundred percent fit to perform their best during a Grand Prix weekend. But, there are times when drivers can injury themselves that could affect their season. One such example is former Red Bull driver, Mark Webber, and team boss Christian Horner talks about how the Australian carried on while being injured.

Red Bull boss talks about Mark Webber’s accident prior to an F1 season

The Australian was underappreciated in the world of Formula One. But, many don’t know about the tale of Webber that shows how determined he was in making an impact in the sport.

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Talking about Webber’s bike accident on the Red Bull website, Horner said, “An unknown story about Mark Webber is when he broke his leg in a pre-season accident between 2008 and 2009. When he turned up to see me prior to the season, he also had an arm in his sling and the doctor told us, he had broken his shoulder.”

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“But I remember Mark being really anxious about one of the tests he told he had to perform, which was to jump on his broken leg of a box and land on that leg to demonstrate he was strong enough. Psychologically that was really tough for Mark who was going through intensive therapy, to get himself fit for the season, and he prepared himself and jumped off that box. In the end, the FIA didn’t require him to jump off that box for memory but he proved to himself that he was fit enough and strong enough to be at the first Grand Prix,” Horner concluded.

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Horner talks about the infamous multi-21 incident

Teammates are often seen as each other greatest rivals, an inter-team rivalry between Webber and Sebastian Vettel is edged into the minds of many F1 fans. One such incident between the two Red Bull drivers was at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Where Vettel defied team orders and overtook Webber.

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Speaking of this incident Horner said, “It probably culminated at the end of 2012 when Sebastian was fighting Alonso for the championship and Mark squeezed him up against the pit wall at the start of the race in Brazil, in the championship decider, which ultimately resulted in him getting turned around by Bruno Senna. Sebastian was hugely angry about that.”

“There was a hangover of that that led into Malaysia, literally two races later, split by four or five months. You had a situation where you have Mark in the car ahead, Sebastian on new tyres in the car behind. The tyres were pretty fragile, we’re telling them hold position and Sebastian thought ‘F*** you,” Horner explained.

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What are the other inter-teammate rivalries that are still remembered in Formula One? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by:

Arpit Gomes

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Arpit Gomes is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. Currently pursuing his Journalism degree from Xavier’s Institute, he is a big fan of McLaren and their driver Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Arpit always looks forward to the paddock moving to Spa and drivers dealing with the exciting Eau Rouge corner as well the straight at Monza.
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