Mark Webber’s 2004 British F1 GP Qualifying Lap video is all kinds of awesome

REMEMBER when Formula One cars both sounded great, and were properly, astonishingly quick?

While the current crop of Formula One cars still manage to get some decent speed on, they aren’t scaring the bejeezus out of drivers, and sound about as exciting as a day-long seminar on the merits of soy milk.

2004 was one of the fastest years in F1 history. With 3.0-litre V10 engines strapped to their backs, drivers blitzed lap records around the world.

Aussie Mark Webber was still our country’s great hope in Formula One at the time, despite driving for the mid-pack Jaguar squad.

However, with a heavy dosing of talent, and some good ol’ fashioned Aussie grit [pardon the Twitter pun], Webber built himself a reputation of ragging the car at speeds it really had no right to be achieving.

In this video, watch as Webber hustles his Jag around the extremely fast Silverstone circuit.

With Martin Brundle in the commentary box, we are given an idea at the kind of commitment carried by Webber as he lays it all on the line in one of his all-or-nothing qualifying laps.

Webber ended up 10th on the grid for the race; 1.7-seconds shy of Kimi Raikkonen’s 1:18.233 pole-setting time.

Even now, 12 years since the lap took place, and with the British Grand Prix upon us this weekend, Webbers lap is awe-inspiring.

The lap is a delight to watch, not only because of the spectacular 10-cylinder soundtrack, but for the way Webber works his magic on track.

Now come on Daniel Ricciardo, do us proud this weekend!