POSTED ON August 26th, 2011
Following the four-week summer break, Mark returns to work at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend. He heads to Spa-Francorchamps, one of his favourite circuits, lying second in the world championship and keen to maintain his 100 percent points-scoring record this year.
“The form card has been tight everywhere this year and it’s going to be no different at Spa,” says Mark. “I expect Sunday’s race to be a battle between Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren and we’re unlikely to know which way it’s going to go until the race starts.
“What’s certain is that Spa is one of the best tracks on the calendar. It hasn’t been designed in the last 10 years, thankfully, and there’s a fantastic sequence of corners and undulations. It’s always a pleasure to drive here and you feel pretty alone out there in the forest.”
Mark has a good record at the track, having not finished outside the top 10 since he was taken out on the opening lap in 2004, and he hopes to maintain that record this year. But there’s no such thing as a straightforward race at Spa.
“Set-up’s pretty tricky,” he says, “and the weather usually bowls you a googly at some point, so you’ve got to think outside the box. It can be raining at one point on the track, but dry on another, and you’ve got to make the right call on tyres. But that’s part of the challenge of racing here.
“I’m also looking forward to getting back in the car. When you call yourself a racing driver, four weeks is a long time to be out of the car in the middle of the season! But I had a good break and really enjoyed doing some cycling with Alain Prost in the French Alps last week. And I can see that the break is a good thing for the boys: they work incredibly hard and it’s important for them to spend some time with their friends and families.”
During the build-up to the race, Mark has been asked a lot of questions about Michael Schumacher, who celebrates his 20th anniversary in F1 this weekend. Here’s what he has to say:
“Twenty years is a long time to be at the top of your sport and I can remember Michael’s first race in the Jordan. I was karting at the time and I watched the race – like I did all of them back then – with my dad.
“My first race with Michael was my debut at Melbourne in 2002, when I finished fifth. He knew he wasn’t going to be on the front pages the next day, so he came and had his photo taken with me after the race!”
Credit: Mark Webber (www.markwebber.com)
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