Mark Webber: 'Mum wasn't a massive fan of my older 'soul mate'.'

By Caitlin Shea and Vanessa Gorman.

Formula One driver Mark Webber credits a diminutive Englishwoman as being the “driving force” behind his spectacular racing career which resulted in nine Grand Prix victories.

In an exclusive interview with Australian Story, Webber talks in-depth about the relationship with Ann Neal, his manager and partner for nearly 20 years.

According to F1 legend, British driver Sir Jackie Stewart, Webber owes much of his success to Neal.

“I don’t think without Ann, Mark Webber would be where he is today. It’s been a very good partnership,” he said.

Neal spotted Webber’s talent when he was only 18, and as his manager took him to race in Europe in the hope of cracking F1.

"Annie didn't have much doubt, no," 38-year-old Webber said.

"When we left here, there were a lot of people who said they'll be back in six months. She believed I could do it and so did I."

While in Europe, the relationship between Neal and Webber went from professional to personal.

"We just kind of had this bond. We just grew close through determination more than anything else. We just ticked," Neal said.

The decade-plus age difference was never a factor for Webber but he said his mother, Diane, wasn't a "massive fan of it".

"In the beginning, it was pretty rocky, very rocky," Diane Webber said.

"But Ann and I get on well together now."

Neal said: "I think it was a shock to her that her son was in a relationship with an older woman who had her own son."

Mark Webber met Neal's son, Luke, when he was only three.

"I never really saw Mark as a father figure. I saw him as a big brother who played with me on Xbox quite a bit," Luke Barrett said."I wouldn't call myself a motorsport fan. I got forced into it to support Mark."

Relationship kept under wraps while Webber pursued career

For many years, Neal and Webber kept their relationship under wraps while trying to progress his racing career.

"I just didn't think it was the right message if I was going to talk to a team boss or a sponsor if I rocked in there saying, 'Oh my partner, my boyfriend'," Neal said.

"I mean, it just sounded naff. I knew the sport well enough to stand my own ground and represent him well."

Neal began working in motor racing as a journalist in England after she left school.

Her passion is not Formula One but the "nitty gritty" of dirt track racing.

She emigrated to Australia in the early 90s and met Webber while working for the Formula Ford Association.

Using her network of contacts in Europe, Neal spent seven years trying to find teams and sponsors to fund Webber's junior racing career before finally cracking Formula One in 2002.

"It was an incredibly tough [financial] struggle in those early years," she said.

"He did get a job as a driving instructor at one of the racing schools and that gave him his 43 [British pounds] a day.I think he spent most of that on petrol trying to get to the place and home again."

Life then was a far cry from the lifestyle that Formula One has now afforded them, dividing their time between their homes in England, the south of France and Noosa.

"It was very important that we both contributed to just getting the groceries in," Webber said.

"Sometimes it was like, 'OK, well, yeah it's going to be tight this week'. I had a [Ford] Fiesta which was a piece of a car to say the least.

"I think that was really what made us, just that drive and determination.

"Ann was very much a dog with a bone, and 'come on, let's ring these teams', so she was super tenacious."

Relationship hits bumpy patch after Webber turned professional

According to former F1 team boss Paul Stoddart, who gave Webber his first drive in Formula One, Neal is a "Rottweiler".

"She's a gentle English lady but the real Ann can be like a Rottweiler, and I say that in the kindest way, because you have to be," Stoddart said.

"Mark owes Ann a lot because without her grit, determination and a few toes trodden on along the way, things might have been a bit different.

"They called Formula One 'the piranha club' and if you're weak, you will get walked on.

"I think Ann over the years, she's held her own with the best of them and the results are a fantastic Formula One career."

However, the partnership had a bumpy patch shortly after Webber turned professional with Mercedes in 1999.

"In most people's eyes he had arrived, he was going to be a famous person. There was a girl on the scene and he did take up with her for a little while," Neal said.

"To be honest, I was more angry about the whole thing going off the rails in terms of his career because he could not afford to have a girlfriend who's living in Australia when he's trying to pursue a professional career in Europe."

Webber, who admits in his soon-to-be-released autobiography that the pressure of his mother's disapproval of his relationship "got to him", then sacked Neal as his manager.

"There were lots of things going on. I was pressing on with the career and we had a tricky moment," Webber said.

For Neal, the decision to sever management ties was "a kick".

"I thought, 'right, OK, I've done all this hard work and now you don't need me. Let's just see.' Long and short of it is he realised that he actually did need me in his life," she said.

"And that's when I get the call, 'I want to come home.' So I said 'well there'll be some changes then, isn't there?'"

Webber said he missed his "team-mate and soul mate" and Neal's support and guidance.

"It was certainly a bit of an uppercut to myself. We patched it back up pretty quickly," he said.

Couple goes public with relationship after Webber's F1 debut

The couple only "came out" publicly with their relationship after Webber's memorable F1 debut in Melbourne in 2002, where he came fifth in a car which was "marginal".

"He was the toast of the town and I remember then we weren't really together in most people's eyes and it was a bit of a strange sensation," Neal said.

"'Wow, he just achieved this', but I couldn't really be too emotional about it. Then I suppose gradually we came out.

"No-one wrote headlines about it but we were just more comfortable about being open about it and that's how it evolved.

"Our relationship is totally wrapped up in one another and the motor racing. We just have this bond that just gets stronger all the time.

"I suppose we're soul mates at the end of the day.

"That's our story, we set out to do it and we did it."

Webber retired from Formula One at the end of 2013 having won nine Grands Prix, including two prestigious Monaco events, and having stood on the podium 45 times.

Despite coming close, a world championship eluded him.

"I think Mark came out of his F1 career with his head held high. That was more important than winning the title. I think his code of ethics, his sportsmanship, was actually far more important," said Neal, who wasnever happy with the actions of his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Webber said: "It was all clean. And that's why I can look back and say yeah ... I'm proud of what I achieved."

This post originally appeared on the ABC and was republished here with full permission. 

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