Mark Webber hits out at complaining F1 drivers: “Load of bull****!”

Ex-F1 driver Webber won nine grands prix during an 11-year career between 2002 and 2013.

But he has hit out at current drivers to the Performance Hackers podcast: “Let’s not beat around the bush, you’re paid a handsome sum of money to do a very, very phenomenal job. And that’s not a burden.

“I never spoke about sacrifices. People talking about sacrifices and ‘I gave a lot up’ - I think that’s an absolute load of bull****.

“Because if you want something enough? 

“These young drivers have come from Australia and [they say]: ‘I have made all these sacrifices’. Well, they aren’t. If it’s a sacrifice already then I think you’re on the back foot.

“It’s all upside for me in terms of exposing yourself and working with the best people and getting the best out of yourself. Even the last three years of my career, I was on a one-year contract because I was right on the edge of being replaced.

“[That gave me] fire right behind me to continue to deliver and say: ‘I’m going to be renewed if I bring value to this operation, I bring value to myself and the people around me, my team, and I’ve got pride in how I go about it.'

“My first contract in F1 was for two races, can you believe that? It was three weeks. So really brutal but I had no cards at the table. That’s how it was. So what am I going to do, spill milk or step up?”

Webber is currently the manager for Oscar Piastri, the rookie Australian who will debut in F1 in 2023 with McLaren. Piastri replaced Daniel Ricciardo, another Aussie.