Webber’s Grand Prix Week Diary

Mark returns to Melbourne for the 2010 Australian Grand Prix a race-winner, we asked him to keep a diary of what he’s been up to and who he’s met in the run-up to the grand prix.

“We came into Melbourne straight from Bahrain, so we had two days in the city last week to do some PR bits and pieces for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and on Thursday they had organised a lunch with some Australian Sporting Legends. I’d been asked to invite some of the Aussie greats, and one of my biggest sporting heroes is the bike racer Mick Doohan, so he was there and Jimmy Tompkins, one of the Olympic rowers who I’ve known from old and has done the Tasmanian Challenge with me a few times was also there. It was a good chance for me to catch up with some of my mates. Some of the guys on my wishlist couldn’t make it, they were overseas, like Ricky Ponting who is playing cricket in New Zealand and the rugby union player David Campese was on the list, but he was in Hong Kong. It was still nice to see the guys who did make it.

“After that we headed back up to Queanbeyan for four days with the family; we don’t usually get that long, we usually sneak in the weekend before the race and that’s about it, but we managed to catch up with friends, went out for dinner, and just chilled out.

“On Sunday I did The Footy Show, a big rugby league TV programme over here. They got me to try out some kicks, but they only gave me one chance to do each one and I reckon I could have done a lot better! Terry Campese, David’s nephew was there as well – he hasn’t followed his uncle into union, he’s making his way in rugby league now. He was born in my hometown and now plays for the Canberra Raiders.

“On Monday we had the street parade and the civic reception in Queanbeyan which, if I’m honest I was a bit embarrassed about to start with, you know – do I really deserve this? But, once I was there, I saw a lot of friends, people I hadn’t seen for a long, long time. And there were people from my racing days in Australia, when I was go-karting and in Formula Ford which was great and everyone was very supportive. As well as the local people, there were guys from a bit further afield which was good. Some people came back to the house afterwards and there was a fair bit of reminiscing going on .

“That night I went to the Canberra Raiders game, the team Terry plays for. They’re also coached by David Furner who played in the UK for Leeds Rhinos. He’s back here now, and he was a huge inspiration to me because of his training and the way he prepared himself to compete. And they won their game! I went down to the dressing rooms afterwards to see the boys and that was good.

“Then, Tuesday morning, we came back to Melbourne and went to the University to help our head of car engineering Paul Monaghan to give a lecture to fourth year and post-graduate mechanical engineering and afterwards we caught up with some friends.

“On Wednesday I came down to the track and Thursday I was in the FIA press conference, so we did a lot of media at that stage. I haven’t had a load more PR to do this year compared to other seasons, but winning races has made the local boys, how can I say… a bit easier on me! Not that it ever bothers me, but I think the Aussie press think I should have rocked up and won every race – and Formula One’s not always like that as we all know!

“On Thursday night we had a supporter’ club function over at Caulfield Park which we do every year. We had well over 100 people there, most of them Australian, but some had come from overseas and did a Q&A with them there which was great.

“Then last night (Friday) we introduced a young Kiwi driver to the world who I’m now mentoring. Young Mitch Evans has been pulling up trees in whatever he does in New Zealand and we’re hoping to get him over to Europe and the UK and see if we can help him take the next step. Who knows, he might be inviting me to a Sporting Legends dinner here in seven or eight years’ time!”

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