Motorsport: Webber says it's not about what boat you have in the harbour

Mark Webber of Australia and Red Bull Racing prepares to drive for the Formula One Grand Prix. Photo / Getty Images

He lives on a huge country estate north of London. He also owns the mansion next door.

There are several Porsches in the driveway, as well as a collection of latest model Renaults.

He travels by helicopter and always turns left when he boards a plane. Mark Webber, currently the 'world's fastest Australian', knows all about the rewards that go with being Formula One royalty but says his focus has never changed nor wavered.

"It has always been about competing with the best," says Webber. "It is a sensational feeling to be able to race the best guys, in the best cars on the best tracks in the world.

"That is what the end goal is about. It is not about what boat you have in the harbour, it is about racing against the best."

On the eve of tonight's Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the 34- year-old sits just three points off the world championship lead, after a season in which he has claimed seven podium finishes and four victories.

But the Red Bull driver served a long and often painful apprenticeship, spending seven years in Europe before securing a F1 drive, then managing just two podiums in his first seven seasons.

Before his breakthrough chequered flag at Nurburgring in 2009, Webber had contested 131 Grands Prix, an ignominious stat that is the second-worst in F1 history.

His career almost stalled in the late 1990s, saved only by financial backing from ex- Wallaby David Campese. In 2006, he seriously considered quitting during a sorry season with Williams.

Those times are now, as Midnight Oil put it, forgotten years, but have made his recent achievements much sweeter.

"Motorsport is pretty brutal," reflects Webber. "There are some key ingredients you need to do well - good equipment and performing when you need to perform.

"When you arrive in F1, it is only the base camp on Everest. That is when you have to deliver, as everyone is trying to take your seat and all the vultures are around."

Webber is revelling in the 2010 competition, one of the strongest fields in years.

"They don't hand any victories out on a plate, or world championships. But in terms of being able to win races in the last few years, with the company I have been in, it has been very rewarding."

There are five more races after Monza and, if Webber can outlast McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, he will become only the third Australian to win the world championship.