EXCLUSIVE: MARK Webber should have been down for the count after just one lap of the German Grand Prix on Sunday.
He was smacked with a disastrous penalty after a car-to-car punch-up with Rubens Barrichello on the run to the first corner, and while he was dribbling through the pitlane at 100km/h as penance his race rivals were able to blast past at better than 280.But Webber refused to conceded defeat and at the end of 60 laps he was celebrating a breakthrough victory as only the third Australian to win in Formula One.
"Maybe I've used up all my bad luck in the past and I'm finally getting some good luck now," Webber told the Herald Sun exclusively from his home in Britain.
"Whatever, I'll take it. It feels good."
Webber finally beat his mercurial young Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel into second place, after following him home twice earlier in the season, with Felipe Massa in third for Ferrari.
The Brawns which have set the pace for much of the season were hit with tyre troubles and the best championship leader Jenson Button could manage was fifth, one place ahead of his team mate Barrichello.
But it was Barrichello who nearly cost Webber his win, as they clashed on the run to the first turn in an incident which also saw the Aussie tag defending world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The McLaren driver punctured a rear tyre, never recovered, and was a dismal 18th and last at the flag.
Webber admitted he was stunned by the Stewards' penalty, as the panel included an Australian, Garry Connelly.
"A drive through what!" was my reaction. I thought the penalty was a little harsh because I genuinely hadn't seen him and didn't feel that I did anything dangerous, and I couldn't believe it when my race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam first told me the news," Webber said.
"As it was, I had enough pace to absorb the lost track time and still win the race. It meant driving a hard middle stint, during which I took up to two seconds per lap out of Rubens' lead, and I knew by lap 40 that I had the race in the bag.
"There were a few dark clouds overhead in the closing stages, but the rain held off and I crossed the line nine seconds ahead of Sebastian."
The classiest thing about Webber's performance was his pace.
He showed his raw speed when he claimed pole position for the first time and he plain out-drove all of his rivals including Vettel in an identical car.
"Lot of people said Sebastion would finish my career, but every year you're under pressure. It's been a very rewarding season for me so far and I'm happy with how I'm going."
In a lot of ways Webber looked like his F1 hero, Michael Schumacher. His aggressive move at the start was classic Schumacher intimidation, so was his pace, and so was his refusal to concede.
Webber was helped when Barrichello and Vettel were bottled-up behind Massa's Ferrari, which is almost impossible to pass with an extra 80 horsepower from its Kinetic Energy Recovery System, but the Brawn cars were also hit badly with tyre trouble.
"Brawn are having a bit of a wobble right now, but we expect them to be back. They had a poor race and we capitalised," Webber said.
"But we've got some hot tracks coming up so we have to see how we go against them. Depending on how that goes, my chances are greatly increased of winning a few more."
But even Webber's emphatic celebration was tinged with the troubles which have stopped him scoring a win earlier in his season.
This time it was the lingering effects of the disastrous mountain bike crash in Tasmania in December which left him with a broken shoulder and leg.
He wobbled as his climbed from his Red Bull RB5 and put his weight on the damaged leg, but said it was nothing major.
"I lost my balance a bit. It always takes a little while to warm up after a 2-hour GP. Anyway, it's a small thing to put up with compared to what other people have had in their lives."
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