Motorsport: Power behind the driving seat

Mark Webber is enjoying his work with the Porsche endurance team much more than his later years in Formula 1. Picture / Getty Images Top team ... Ann Neal and Mark Webber.Timo Bernhard (left), Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley succeed for Porsche.

Aussie driver's partner maps his path to success

Since arriving in Formula One in 2002, Mark Webber has experienced a multitude of lows, a good number of highs, and over his 12-year career in the blue-riband category of motor racing achieved 215 race starts and nine wins.

Although having to endure the entire range of emotions racing can throw at a driver, Webber has had one constant with him on the journey, his long time partner Ann Neal.

He met Neal in 1994 when she was in Australia as the Australian Formula Ford co-ordinator and was soon helping the young Aussie to secure a deal with the Yellow Pages.

By the end of 1996 the pair were in the UK. It's a common enough refrain that behind every successful man there is a great woman and this is certainly the case with Webber, as he often mentions.

While in Le Mans to cover the return of Porsche to the top table of endurance racing and follow Brendon Hartley's weekend, Driven took the opportunity to chat to Neal about her time in the sport.
"I've been in and around motor racing since I was a little girl watching speedway and started to follow Derek Warwick," said Neal.

"Later I started to help his younger brother Paul with press releases and stuff and got to know other drivers like Johnny Herbert, whose press work I also did in his early days.

"When Paul [Warwick] died at Oulton Park in 1991, my love for the sport soured and I emigrated to Australia.

Top team ... Ann Neal and Mark Webber.Timo Bernhard (left), Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley succeed for Porsche.

"It wasn't long, though, before I was offered a job by Ford to look after their championship and so I was back in the sport again."

Back when Neal was doing press for Herbert she became interested in the management side of the sport and watched how Herbert's manager put the deals together.

There weren't any opportunities in the UK, so Neal started looking around for a young Australian racer she could help get to Europe by using her contacts.

"Mark was quite mature for his age and had a vision. I'm not too sure he knew what it was at the time, but he was ambitious and wanted to get out of Australia.

"He had no results when I met him, but I knew he was marketable and I wanted to help him with all the stuff that surrounds motorsport.

"The Yellow Pages said they would sponsor Mark only if I became his manager as I had the contacts in Europe, so I did."

The two became a formidable pairing. It wasn't long before Webber was knocking on the door of Formula One and by 2002 was on the grid with Minardi, then Jaguar, Williams and finally Red Bull Racing where he remained until he retired last year.

Mark Webber is enjoying his work with the Porsche endurance team much more than his later years in Formula 1.

Formula One is a dog-eat-dog affair where teammates are in name only. For someone who calls it like it is, Webber's last couple of years in the sport weren't the most pleasant on a personal level.

"I didn't want him to continue in F1," said Neal. "I thought the environment was toxic and I didn't want anything to do with it.

"In the last couple of years I didn't go to too many races, and it's such a shame as it's supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport.

"The last couple of years in F1 were hard for him -- it wasn't enjoyable any more. Mark loved getting into the car, but it was all the other stuff that was the issue."

Webber's at a new home and watching him move around the Le Mans pits and interact with fans and sponsors alike is a bit of a revelation. He's at ease, smiling and looks generally happy in his work with Porsche.

"He loves the team environment at Porsche and how everyone is moving in the same direction," said Neal. "They're all working together in endurance racing whereas in F1 you might be in a team but you're racing as individuals.

"He's growing into endurance racing and loves the atmosphere -- but is taking a bit of getting used to the idea he has to share a car."