Webber was not encouraged to seriously take up motorcycling by his father, because he sponsored some local children who were injured in motorbike accidents. Webber began driving motorbikes on weekends from about age four or five on his maternal grandfather's 2,500-acre (1,000 ha) farm. He lives in the small Buckinghamshire village of Aston Clinton with his wife Ann Neal and is stepfather to her son from a previous relationship. Webber also worked as an apprentice plumber and woodcutter. At age 13, he was a ball boy for the rugby league team Canberra Raiders for a year and earned money delivering pizzas in the Canberra and Queanbeyan areas in his late schooling years. Webber represented KHS in athletics and rugby league and did Australian rules football, cricket and swimming after his mother encouraged him to get involved in as many sports as possible. He was educated at the nearby Isabella Street Primary School and Karabar High School (KHS). His paternal grandfather was a firewood merchant. On 27 August 1976, Webber was born to middle-class parents, motorcycle dealer and petrol station owner Alan Webber and his wife Diane, in the small New South Wales town of Queanbeyan located in the Tablelands, on the Queanbeyan River banks, near Canberra. Webber is an inductee of both the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame and the FIA Hall of Fame. Webber received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2017 Australia Day Honours. He retired from motor sport in 2016, becoming a television pundit for Britain's Channel 4 and Australia's Network 10 and a driver manager. The trio won eight races in the final two seasons and the 2015 World Endurance Drivers' Championship. He left F1 after 2013 and moved to the WEC, sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Bernhard and Hartley in the fully-professional Le Mans Prototype 1 class from the 2014 to 2016 seasons. He won nine F1 Grands Prix, thirteen pole positions and finished third in the World Drivers' Championship in the 2010, 20 seasons. Webber remained at Williams until the 2006 campaign, driving for the Red Bull squad for the rest of his F1 career. For the 2005 season, he was granted an early release from his contract with Jaguar and joined the Williams team, securing his first podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. He moved to the Jaguar squad for the 20 championships. Webber made his F1 debut with the Minardi team in the 2002 season and finished fifth in his first race, the Australian Grand Prix. He competed for two years opposite Bernd Schneider in the FIA GT Championship with the AMG Mercedes team, finishing runner-up in the 1998 season with five wins in ten races before finishing second in the 2001 International Formula 3000 Championship driving for Super Nova Racing. Webber began karting at age 12 or 13 and achieved early success, winning regional championships before progressing to car racing in the Australian Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship. He is a champion of the 2015 FIA WEC for Porsche with German Timo Bernhard and New Zealander Brendon Hartley. Mark Alan Webber AO (born 27 August 1976) is an Australian retired professional racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2013 and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) between 20.
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