Top 5 unluckiest F1 drivers in the past decade

2) Mark Webber

Mark Webber

Race Starts – 211 Wins – 9

Mark Webber was not always the unlucky figure that we know today. In fact, in his first year in F1 (with Minardi), he won the Rookie of the Year award from numerous motor-sport magazines. However, it was the next year when he joined Jaguar that his run of real bad luck started. This was really highlighted in Malaysia 2004 when the fire extinguisher discharged into his face.

Hoping for a change in luck, he switched to BMW Williams in 2005. He got his first ever podium finish that year in Monaco where he finished third. However, the Williams car proved to be very unreliable and Webber retired in 14 of the 37 races he drove in the Williams. In 2007, he joined the fledgling Red Bull Racing team where over the next two years with David Coulthard he started to score points on a regular basis and earned a podium finish in the 2007 European Grand Prix.

When Coulthard left at the end of 2008, many expected him to become Red Bull’s No. 1 driver. However, he soon found himself in his usual seat as the second driver as Red Bull pushed a young Sebastian Vettel to the fore. Webber did manage to win his first ever race in Germany in 2009 and then in Brazil as Red Bull almost won the championship.

The next year he found himself in the lead after hammering out four wins but his dream of winning the Championship went up in smoke at Korea when he crashed out in spectacular fashion in the pouring rain. Over the next two years he managed to win only 3 races and despite consistent performances. Webber found himself constantly overshadowed by Vettel.

This year the tension in the red Bull camp exploded in Malaysia when Vettel passed Webber after specifically being told not to do so. Webber blasted the team and Vettel and later on he announced that he was leaving F1 for good at the end of the season.