After 12 seasons competing in the Formula One world championship, Australian born Red Bull Racing ace Mark Webber has announced his retirement from the pinnacle of motorsport at the end of this season. He's joining Porsche as lead driver in their LMP1 assault on the FIA World Endurance Championship which includes the fabled Le Mans 24 Hr. 
    Queanbeyan born Webber made his way to the top of motorsport through shall we say, traditional categories. Started karting in 1991 as a 14yo, progressed through to Formula Ford, took himself off to Europe, continued in Formula Ford, then F3 (plus GT with Mercedes in 1998-99), then Formula 3000 before being signed as F1 test driver to Arrows in 2000, then Benetton in 2001. But it was anything but easy. Without the support from Yellow Pages, rugby legend David Campese, Fosters, former Euro Asiatech F3000 and Minardi F1 boss Paul Stoddart, long time manager Flavio Briatore and partner Ann Neal, he may very well not have made it.
    2002 saw Webber make a stunning F1 debut at Albert Park by claiming P5 in an incident filled race for backmarkers Minardi. Two seasons followed for each Jaguar and Williams before winding up at Red Bull Racing in 2007 where he has remained. 
    Mark Webber has finished 3rd in the championship in 2010 and 2011. Along the way he has accumulated 9 wins, 36 podiums, 11 pole positions and 15 fastest laps to date, with 12 races to go, starting with tonight's British GP. There's still work to do. Webber's won the prestigious race twice and would love to be a 3-time winner of the British GP and so far this weekend appears racy. Will Mark Webber add to his win tally before he retires from F1? Let us know what you think about Mark Webber leaving F1? Should he have gone around one more time, or was it the time right to leave with a new formula coming in next season? Send us an email at : greenflag@formulafrontrow.com or simply leave a comment. 
    We'd like to congratulate Mark Webber for a wonderful F1 career (with more success to come) and have enjoyed cheering for 12 seasons from either the Brabham Stand at Albert Park or at home. At all times you've done Australia proud and should be commended for leaving a cut-throat sport at the top of your game on your own terms. Not every F1 driver can do that. Have especially loved the wheel to wheel stuff with Fernando Alonso. Good luck.
    What chance Porsche send a factory backed GT team to Oz for the Bathurst 12 Hr? Drawing a long bow we know. Still be cool to see Webber doing Mt Panorama if it didn't clash with LMP1 duties in FIA's WEC. 
    P1 for Mark at British GP? Let's go! We'll be cheering....

    Is Sebastian Vettel already in an unassailable position for this year's Formula One championship? Can anyone stop Jamie Whincup's relentless march to yet another V8 Supercar crown? Both no doubt answered as their respective seasons come to fruition. 
    Well if you're a fan of Australian open wheel racing, you may be asking if Tim Macrow can extend his lead over John Magro and Nick Foster in the 2013 Formula 3 Australian Driver's Championship as Round 4 forms part of a huge Shannons Nationals programme on 13th-14th July at Sydney Motorsport Park? Australia's fastest racing cars contest two races on Saturday and a feature race on Sunday. Complementing F3 will be mini enduros from the Radical Australia Cup, Australian Swift Racing Series and Australian GT Championship featuring exotic marques like Ferrari, Mercedes and Lamborghini, a 3 hour enduro for the Australian Manufacturers Championship, and Porsche GT-3 Cup. Massive!
    Formula 3 has done an excellent job in promoting its brand. They recently supported V8 Supercars at Symmons Plains, Tasmania for Rd 2, and this weekend at Hidden Valley for Rd 3 racing for the City Of Darwin Cup. Tim Macrow led home Nick Foster in an incident filled Race 1, with positions reversed for Race 2. The F3ADC is certainly hotting up and by supporting V8 Supercars have increased exposure to a potential new fanbase. Multimedia has also been ramped up. For online savvy punters, the remaining rounds will all be streamed live via itvlive.com.au. Free to air punters can enjoy increased TV coverage on SBS Speedweek, whilst pay TV folk can enjoy F3 via Fox's Speed TV which is worldwide. 
    At formulafrontrow.com we love all forms of motorsport, but we especially love open wheelers. Can't help but wonder how cool it would be to have our premier open wheel category, F3, back on the support bill for the pinnacle of motorsport, F1, at the Australian GP. After attending Rd 1 as part of the Bathurst Motor Festival at Mt Panorama, we wait with great anticipation to see F3 again around the sweeping, long radius corners of Sydney Motorsport Park. Bring the kids, a picnic lunch, drive straight in to the circuit precinct, and don't forget your cameras. Cheers.... 
     

    Congratulations to Nico Rosberg and the Mercedes F1 team for winning the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix around the tight confines of the Monte Carlo street circuit. The first father and son in F1 to win the prestigious race with Nico's father and 1982 world champion Keke winning 30 years ago. 
    Mercedes F1 team are a team on the improve. Of that there is no doubt. The "Silver Arrows" one lap qualifying pace has been nothing short of mesmerising, yet up until the Monaco GP have occasionally slid down the order during the race. China saw Lewis Hamilton's pole position convert to third place. In Bahrain, Rosberg, Q1 then P9 come race day. Ouch! The most alarming was Spain. A front row lock out to Rosberg and Hamilton translated to P6 and P12 respectively around Catalunya's aero demanding circuit, despite Rosberg holding on bravely to P1 until the first round of pitstops. Yet, impressively, another front row lock out in Monaco scored Mercedes P1 for Rosberg and P4 for Hamilton. Did Monaco mask a deeper problem?
    Mercedes have clearly built a quick 2013 car with scope for development, but sometimes it has quite a large appetite for the rapidly degrading Pirelli rubber. Is this because the questions asked by a fast,high downforce generating car cannot be answered by the tyres? In other words, are Mercedes hampered by the need to nurse the tyres during races and therefore cannot exploit their car's full potential? Is the car that good?
    A couple of points to note. Monaco is not a circuit brandishing big sweeping, big aero corners. It is more demanding of mechanical grip, meaning tyres can be managed with less concern. This confirms Mercedes have a tidy package on their hands. The other point concerns the recent tyre test held the day after the Spanish GP, before Monaco. It was conducted by Pirelli, not the team, conducted in good faith to test the 2014 tyres. Therefore no advantage was gained by Mercedes for 2013. We fear we may hear more on this though.
    So does Mercedes' Monaco victory shroud their true race pace? Will we continue to see a Mercedes driver on the top step of the podium? Can Mercedes allow their drivers to push whilst maximising tyre durability? Next race at Canada is also more reliant on mechanical grip than aero to get out of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's numerous hairpins and chicanes. Maybe we'll get a more objective picture at the British GP around aero sensitive Silverstone? Let us know what you think. Send us an email at: greenflag@formulafrontrow.com or simply leave a comment.
    Cheers....