Robb Interview: Mark Webber & Sir Jackie Stewart
We sat down with the two F1 legends – to talk Rolex, Ricciardo, the future of Melbourne’s GP
and why Max Verstappen needs swap the Red Bull for “some valium.”
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No less a luminary than Sir Jackie Stewart, a three-time world champion, thinks Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles at McLaren are “all in his head”.
“The thing about driving in Formula One is, it’s all about mind management,” Stewart, speaking yesterday at a Rolex-hosted event at Albert Park in Melbourne, explained to Robb Report.
“It’s all in the head, he really must be suffering a lot right now, with the way he’s struggled to get used to that car at McLaren. He had a very tough year last year.
Will he be able to get it back this year?
“We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s a shame, because he’s a really good racing driver. The thing is, he used to be one of the young pups but he’s not so young anymore.”
Ricciardo’s compatriot and fellow F1-racing legend, Mark Webber, doesn’t like the local hero’s outlook much this weekend in Melbourne, either — largely because of the way to his car has been off the pace in the first to events of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (Ricciardo had a DNF in the first and finished 14th in the second).
Asked to rate Ricciardo’s chances, the always straight-talking Webber shook his head and chimed: “pretty low.”
Robb Report sat down with the two highly experienced Formula One racers to talk everything from watches to Las Vegas, Leclerc to Verstappen, Drive to Survive and the expected battles of this year’s highly anticipated season.
Robb Report: What was the first F1 race you ever attended, Mark — was it the Australian GP, back when it was in Adelaide?
Mark Webber: It was the first, 1987 — I was 10, Gerhard Berger in Ferrari won (Jackie interjects, [“Come on Mark, surely you were only four then?”] I remember the first guy that went past was Martin Brundle in the Brabham and I remember I was sitting on the front straight with my mouth open just going, ‘No way, there’s just no way there’s a human being driving that, it’s just not possible. No human could do that.’ I saw a helmet, but I couldn’t believe there was a person in there — it was just too fast. But I loved it, I was climbing trees, trying to get a better view. I just couldn’t get enough of it, I loved it. And back then I hadn’t even started racing go-karts, I was still just mucking around on motorbikes.”
RR: Australia has quite a history with F1, doesn’t it?
MW: It’s amazing, the history we’ve had here for a country this small, pound for pound, it’s amazing how well we’ve done for a country of our size. We should never have been so lucky.
RR: Do you believe, as F1 adds more races in the US and with Las Vegas now signed up for 2023 and only a certain number of events allowed in the calendar, that we might one day lose our race in Melbourne?
MW: No, no chance — we’ll be fine. I’m highly confident we’ll be fine in Australia because this is one of the best grands prix in the world, the drivers love it, the teams love it.
And it needs to be a global sport — you can’t just hang around in the northern hemisphere. We will see this weekend what’s going to happen, we’ve got 130,000 people here, and you need that kind of excitement. The sport has moved on, but we will go with the times – and you saw the Dutch GP with 120,000 people there, screaming for Max [Verstappen]. What’s happened in the past two years in this sport, the growth has been like nothing before. We’ve had to build extra grandstands here in Melbourne this year and we will hit that new level that we’ve seen around the world. With the Netflix show [Drive to Survive], the drivers are even bigger superstars than ever before. The impact of that show, particularly in the US, has been phenomenal.
My sister loves Toto Wolff and Lando Norris and my nephew loves him/ Look, the patriotic angle will always be strong here in Australia but the sport has gotten so much bigger, there are so many more people being talked about, and the fans feel like they’re closer to them.
RR: Is it true Mark that you purchased your first Rolex yourself – we thought F1 drivers were simply gifted them?
MW: Yes, after winning my first GP in 2009. I thought it was something worth celebrating properly so I bought myself one. But Jackie got given his first one, I’m pretty sure, for winning a race — your first win in Monaco wasn’t it?
Jackie Stewart: It was for setting the fastest lap in qualifying in 1967. And I’ve still got that one.
MW: Wow, that would be worth a bit — probably about the same as the Australian Defense Budget.
JS: I’ve been with Rolex for a long time, more than 50 years and not a lot of sponsorships last that long. And I do love them. I’m staying at Crown Towers and I saw they had a Rolex shop there so I went in yesterday and the guy in the shop didn’t recognise me – which the people with me thought was very funny – so I went up to the guy and said, ‘I’m interested in buying a watch, I’ll have a couple of Daytonas if you don’t mind.’ And he was, ‘Oh, I’m sorry sir, you cannot get those’. I’ve got six Rolexes with me here in Australia, I like to wear different ones during the day and at night.
RR: Qualifying today is so competitive, and so important, with the top six often separated by less than a second — was it like that in your day Sir Jackie?
JS: I never bothered with it. When I was in Formula One, the only thing that mattered was setting the car up properly for the race. Pole position was never very important in my day, all I wanted to do in qualifying was make sure that my car was right. It’s very different today. But like any sport, motor racing is all in the mind. And I worked out, early on, that if I removed emotion from racing, I was better off and most of my races I won, they were won in the first five laps, because everyone else was too uptight in those five laps. I just tried to stay calm.
MW: I remember Jackie telling me that years ago, and it’s so true, being calm in the car is so important, you don’t want to be emotional in there.
JS: It’s a dangerous thing, emotion; it’s dangerous in courting; it’s dangerous in marriage and it’s dangerous in a race car. People make mistakes on the first corner, you see it all the time, and I just couldn’t get that, why would you make a mistake like that? You’ve got 60 laps left, just stay calm. To finish first, first you must finish… You see the same weakness today — too many people diving into the first corner and making mistakes. It’s all about timing – and sometimes Max Verstappen does that, he can be a little over the top. A little valium would help him, I think. More valium, less Red Bull. I think he’s the fastest driver on the track right now, but I still think he’s got an emotional vulnerability. You know, that little kiss he and Lewis Hamilton had at Silverstone last year — there was no reason for that to happen, you just can’t doing things like that. And that was a huge accident. If you had an accident like that in my day, you’d be dead. Simple as that.
“The cockpit of an F1 car today is a survival cell. In the 1960s and ‘70s, I tell everyone that at that time, motor racing was dangerous and sex was safe. That was the swinging ‘60s.
Fifty seven of my friends died during my time racing. Fifty seven! All my best friends died, Graham Hill died in an air crash, but everyone else died on the racing track. The safety levels of the cars today are absolutely incredible. And what the doctors can do. I remember Mika Hakkinen died, twice, in Australia, in Adelaide, after a huge accident. And the doctor, Sid Watkins, got him going again. Twice! That would not have happened in my day, either.
RR: With the cars being so much safer these days, do you think that encourages drivers to perhaps take more risks?
MW: Absolutely, you feel that the consequences are lower, but they still crash, and also the weight of the cars has gone up a lot, so the inertia of these crashes is higher. The human body can only take so much, so ultimately you will have these crashes, like that one at Silverstone last year — that was a big, big impact for Max.
RR: As you say, the cars this year are heavier and you believe that’s made them easier to drive and that the lighter the car, the better a driver has to be to control it – why is that?
MW: It’s all about the power to weight ratio. When the car is lighter it’s more flighty — it’s trickier to predict. You put more weight in it, it gets easier, like a Touring Car, they’re so much heavier – it’s like an A380 while an F1 car is more like a fighter jet. As drivers, we feel a difference of as little as 50kg. If you make the cars heavier, it’s not as much fun, the drivers want them lighter. There’s no doubt they’re a bit more docile this year, but the drivers have still got to put the tyre on the limit, it’s still a hard job.
RR: Have the design changes this year helped with overtaking — have they got the balance right?
MW: We’ve had two samples, two events. Bahrain encourages passing anyway and we’re seeing the DRS [Drag Reduction System] make a big difference — I think they’ll look at whether that’s making it too easy as the season goes on. And they’ve been re-passing each other, which is very encouraging; in the past it was once someone went past they were gone, so that re-passing is a very good sign.
JS: The changes to aerodynamics and the effect it has on the cars is so different today — there’s so much that goes into it. In my day, I would have seven mechanics for two racing drivers and now they have 110 engineers on each team to look after two of these ballerina racing drivers. Technology has gone to another level. The racing is so much closer today as a result — if I got away in those first five laps, it was unlikely someone would get past me. My biggest winning margin was more than four minutes.
MW: Four minutes! Incredible. He could have a shower, get dressed, come out on the podium and the others would still be driving around.
RR: Physically, was racing as hard in your day, Sir Jackie?
JS: I had a much bigger neck when I was racing — you had to have those muscles. And the helmets were so much bigger and heavier, too. You had to be fit, even then, and Emmerson Fittipaldi and I were the first two drivers to really concentrate on our physical condition. No one else was worrying about it, but today everyone has to be super fit just to drive the cars.
RR: At the recent Saudi Arabian GP, Kevin Magnussen, who missed all the pre-season training and hasn’t had that much time in the new cars, was holding his neck and clearly in pain after the race, why is that?
MW: It’s hard to train the neck for that driving position. You can train your neck, but it’s amazing how far up your neck muscles go, and remember, you neck is only designed to hold your head up, that’s all, and to do that at 1G. So when you’re doing 3.5 lateral G, and 5Gs of inline braking, after a while your neck just says, ‘I’ve had enough, thanks very much.’ And the only way you can get used to that is in the car — you need mileage. Lots of laps in testing. You can prepare for it, but nothing replaces being in the car, so if you haven’t driven enough in the off-season, it’s going to hurt.
RR: So, Sir Jackie, who do you rate as a great driver in today’s field?
JS: I think Verstappen is the quickest, but I think he’s more on the limit, on the edge, a lot of time. Lewis Hamilton is not a puppy anymore and the older you get, the more you have to use this, [points to his head] instead of this [gestures enthusiastically to his groin].The fact is, Lewis has been at the top for a long time, but there are a lot of young pups around him. Now, I think if he goes on for a lot more races, I think the chances of him winning are diminishing. The cars are becoming more level, so you have to drive them harder. He must be thinking, when will I retire, and really, ideally, he wants to retire on top. If he’d won last year, he could have gone out on top…Timing in life is everything. In my day, I was driving sports cars, touring cars, Indy Cars, and F1, all at once, and that meant so much travelling around. In one year, I crossed the Atlantic 60 times with all the racing — and that’s not a sensible thing to do. But then, that same year, in 1971, I made a million pounds driving racing cars, and back then, that was a lot of money. Not for an Australian maybe, but for a Scottish boy it was. But then I got sick, I had ulcers, I burned myself out. I won the [Formula One] world championship that yea but I was so ill I couldn’t go to pick up the title. So that was a bit mad.
RR: What about Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, do you rate him?
JS: I think Leclerc is a man of the future, he’s not there yet, but to be there you’ve got to be right at the top, competing. He’s got all the makings of a champion, but he’s got to have the car to do the job. He’s also got a very strong teammate, so I think he’s got the potential but I think we’ll see this year how good he is.
MW: He’s good, Charles, and don’t mistake those boyish looks for the eye of the tiger — he’s got plenty of mongrel about him too. Just you wait. It’s going to be one hell of a season.
The Australian Grand Prix, Sunday April 10 at 3pm; rolex.com
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Forget a Bow Tie. Here Are 3 Black-Tie Accessories to Rock Instead
Stylist Tom Stubbs on ditching the bow tie this festive season—and what to wear alternatively.
Black tie, that essential marker of an increasingly rarefied ceremonial style, is inspiring. Nothing coaxes men into upping the sartorial ante quite like reading those words on an invitation. I say amen to raising the bar, but I can’t bear wearing a traditional bow tie—and haven’t done so for over a decade.
Around the turn of the millennium, I was enthusiastically dress-code obedient, but two unstoppable forces put me off: Fashion moved on, and I got old. Where abiding by hallowed traditions once felt exalted, it suddenly began to seem restrictive and stuffy. And while it was extraordinary to be a bow-tied 30-something, in my 40s, the convention made me feel like a pompous, conservative square. Now, menswear has changed so much that bow ties register as pedestrian garb better suited to waiters than to revellers.
Fortunately, there are several black-tie alternatives that excite and inspire me now that I’m well into my 50s—many espoused by stylish guys on the red carpet and innovative designers in London, Paris, Florence, and Milan. And though I might take a bow on nonconformism as I step into my 60s, I still plan to steer clear of the bow tie, that ultimate symbol of gentlemanly customs, for as long as I can. Here’s what I’m replacing it with.
Form and Function
I got excited seeing Lemaire’s slim metallic modernised bolo ties in the house’s fall 2024 show. A favourite of men as varied as Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Snoop Dogg, the bolo is perhaps best remembered as the chosen neckwear of John Travolta’s surly hit man, Vincent, in Pulp Fiction. Originally, Native American tribes including the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo used these accessories used to fasten bandannas with plaited-leather cords. High-end versions double as a bit of jewellery, with silver slides set with turquoise and often engraved with animal motifs, including buffalo skulls and eagles. Contemporary takes abound, but vintage sleuthing can turn up some particularly beguiling options.
Gambling Man
Varying in size, flounce, and attitude, ribbon ties—also called gambler or Kentucky neckties—have long been a legitimate black-tie alternative. Actor Cillian Murphy has worn Saint Laurent’s take to various award shows, looking stand-alone chic and authentically cool. They have a distinct Western energy—Kirk Douglas donned one as Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as did Robert Vaughan in The Magnificent Seven. But they’re as much rock star as they are gunslinger: The late Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls and Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy (style role models of mine) also wore them with panache. Take a note from the runway and wear them with a pair of boots—cowboy, Chelsea, or with a Cuban heel—to really step away from the standard.
Fit to Be Tied
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If you want to give yourself some breathing room, consider scarves and neckerchiefs. This fall, Tom Ford proposed a louche take on evening style, using black, slim-plaited, or delicately sequined scarves whose long tassels provocatively dangle at the hips. For maximum effect, the brand styled them with open satin shirts, recalling rockers Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. London’s La Bowtique also does beautiful outsize bows. On a smaller scale, the Twilly—a short silk scarf pioneered by Hermès—works in much the same manner. The French maison makes gorgeous options with angled ends for extra verve, whether hanging loose or more discreetly knotted.
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Show Stoppers
The Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance—a beauty pageant for priceless classic cars—returns for another instalment at the city’s most intriguing, and unlikeliest, venue.
The logic behind staging a prestige automobile show on an island may, at face value, seem warped—history tells us that cars and water do not play nicely. The rationale twists further when said piece of land is a former shipyard that is, aesthetically, more workhorse ute than classic Ferrari.
Scratch beneath the surface, however, and the decision to plant the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance on Cockatoo Island for the second year running begins to make locational sense: the steel arch of the emblematic bridge acting as photogenic backcloth; the UNESCO World Heritage site’s previous guises as 19th-century penal colony and eminent boat-building facility fleshing the show’s historical bones; the theatre of watching collectors delicately coaxing their four-wheeled artworks off a rusty roll-on/roll-off barge in the islet’s wharf before showtime. (After all, if owning a car in this stratosphere isn’t about projecting drama, then what’s the point?)
Throw in an endless endowment of free Champagne for guests and VIP transport from the mainland via superyacht, and it barely matters that the three-day jamboree is, in the words of founder and curator James Nicholls, “a logistical nightmare”.
“People love the energy, the adventure” says the Anglo-Italian, a broadcaster, writer and photographer whose extensive resume includes various stints as a concours judge across the world. “There’s a great contrast between the luxurious motor cars and the industrial environment. The Turbine Shop [a timeworn, hanger-like space used to display the vehicles] is where ocean-going liners and propellers were built. People interested in cars are also interested in that kind of thing but it’s just a backdrop. Cars are the main focal point.”
The concours d’elegance concept (“concours” means “competition” in French) can be traced back to 17th-century Paris, when aristocrats would flaunt horse-drawn carriages in local parks during summer months. Animals eventually gave way to automobiles, and the gatherings mutated into more organised contests in which these new-fangled contraptions were, in somewhat prescient fashion, judged solely on the appearance. The trend spread throughout European high society, before reaching America in 1950 with an inaugural pageant at Pebble Beach, California—a concours which has since evolved into a behemoth of the species, now billing itself as “the world’s most prestigious car show” and drawing 214 vehicles and spectators in the low five figures at the last annual meeting. Other concours are thriving globally, from spectacles in Lake Como in Italy (the longest running event, launched in 1929) to Udaipur in India. Vanity, it seems, remains in vogue.
Among this storied company, Sydney’s interpretation is playing catch-up. But Nicholls insists the local variant—launched in 2019, having occupied three other citywide locations—has no intention of locking horns with competitors. Not numerically, at least.
“In 2024, we had 500 people over the three days; this year we’ll aim for 750. But we’re never going to become a 20,000-people show,” he says. “We want it to be bespoke and beautiful, so people don’t have to queue for a glass of Champagne. You can talk to the car owners, and everyone feels like a VIP.” The overarching aim is to become a “destination event” on the socialite calendar, on par with the Melbourne Cup or the Australian Grand Prix.
While keen to keep paying visitors guessing, Nicholls offers Robb Report a sneak peek into some of the 44 objets booked to occupy the coarse, exposed-brick viewing hall, ranging from turn-of-the-century rarities to modern-day exotics: a 1905 Eugène Brillié 20/24 HP Coupé Chauffeur, believed to be the only one of its ilk left; a 1955 Porsche Speedster 356 “Pre A”, examples of which are valued in excess of $750,000; a Lamborghini Miura 3400, a model famed for its starring role in the opening sequence to 1969’s The Italian Job movie; a 2021 Audi R8 Spyder, an iteration that is no longer being produced and thus quietly accruing kudos.
Up to seven “classes” will be open, including categories solely for Porsche Speedsters and pre-war Australian coachbuilt cars. Two 1930s Bugattis are slated for appearance, one of which is, as this article is being written, on a boat somewhere, on its way to Australia. A panel of seven judges, led by the first ever female concours head assessor, who also adjudicated in 2024, will select the overall “Best in Show” winner—scored last time out by a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, a model line with a $24 million price tag attached. And in a progressive play designed to lure the oil-shunning generation, an “electric elegance” section will debut. Nicholls estimates the combined value of all this precious metal at around $80 million.
While it would provoke an illicit thrill to discover that frenzied super-collectors were slyly puncturing rivals’ tyres or keying priceless bodywork—skulduggery has plagued other pageants, from dog show Crufts (canine poisoning) to Miss World (rigging allegations)—the entrants are, in keeping with the show’s refined, English-garden-party profile—a gentlemanly bunch. To a point. “They like meeting up, the community that’s here, but they do get competitive,” says Mark Ussher, the Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance managing director, and on-the-ground organiser. “They care about their cars but they’re investors as well as collectors. If they win a concours anywhere around the world it adds value to the car.”
Which makes it doubly important that, surrounded by all that deep Harbour water, everyone remembers to put their handbrake on.
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Jannik Sinner Is the First Tennis Player to Take a Luxury Bag Onto Wimbledon’s Centre Court
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Jannik Sinner aced the style game at last year’s Wimbledon Championships.
The Italian tennis star turned up to his match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo with a custom Gucci duffel bag on his shoulder. It marks the first time a designer bag has been carried onto centre court in the history of the prestigious, centuries-old tennis tournament, as reported by Women’s Wear Daily.
The duffel, which Sinner describes as a “timeless classic,” showcases the house’s signature beige and ebony colorway, the iconic GG monogram, and a contrasting green and red web stripe. It also features the athlete’s initials near the straps. Ironically, the rather traditional design has called into question a 150-year tradition.
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Wimbledon’s dress code is extremely strict: Players have been required to wear white at the event since 1877, with not even off-white or cream permitted on the court. Tennis whites were originally instated as it was believed the ensemble showed less sweat, as reported by Time. The tradition has continued out of respect for the sport’s history and a desire to maintain formality.
The rules are enforced, too: Our own player Nick Kyrgios was allegedly fined $25,000 for rocking red Air Jordan trainers at 2023’s tournament. Interestingly, the decidedly non-white Gucci accessory was reportedly given the all-clear by the powers that be. A spokesperson for Gucci told WWD the house worked with Sinner’s team “for the approvals from the ITF (International Tennis Federation), ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals), and Grand Slams, including Wimbledon, to ensure the bag met the necessary requirements.”
The 23-year-old, who turned pro at age 18, became a Gucci ambassador in 2023 in his first luxury fashion endorsement. “Gucci for me represents Italian excellence around the world, excellence which is rooted in tradition as much as in innovation,” Sinner said. “This is the kind of message I am proud to convey when I represent my country wherever I am in the world.”
The Italian player was capture in action last week during his 1st round men’s singles match against Nicolas Jarry (from Chile) on day two of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park with more Gucci gear. Sinner carried a custom duffle bag crafted by HEAD and designed by Gucci to the men’s singles match on day two of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
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Forget fantasy football—what about a heavenly hotel? Imagine you could create one from scratch, cherrypicking the best aspects of the world’s most noteworthy recent openings and reopenings, combined into the perfect, impossible property. That’s what we’ve done, from the best rooftop restaurant for supper to the only beach club where’s it’s truly worth basking in the sun, this is the world’s ultimate hotel. The only thing we can’t arrange: the chance to check in.
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It took seven years to turn this local landmark—the building once housed the departments of education and agriculture—into a luxury hotel. A honey-coloured jewel in a precinct awash with appealing sandstone facades, its crowning glory, literally, is the gleaming, four-storey glass addition that perches atop the structure like an architectural tiara.
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The Surrey, a Corinthia Hotel
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Le Rooftop at Royal Mansour Casablanca
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The dearth of standout beaches is the Amalfi Coast’s dirty secret, so this is a remarkable asset: walk down through the terraced, lemon-tree-filled gardens of this Gio Ponti-inspired hotel bolted to the steep cliffs by Conca dei Marini, and you’ll stumble upon its own beach club attached to the property. The restaurant sits in a renovated boathouse; feel free to snip some herbs from the mismatched pots filled with sage and basil.
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Hole In One
The Citizen Kanebridge VHG Golf Open Returns to The Southern Highlands This February.
The third annual Citizen Kanebridge VHG Golf Open Day is happening again this year at Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in the Southern Highlands on Friday, February 21. Players will tee off from 8 am for a day of unrivalled bucolic hospitality in the spirit of friendly competition.
The Open unites forces with the operators of Mount Broughton in Sutton Forrest to stage the popular day, in which teams of four enter to enjoy 18 holes of unadulterated fun.
Players will meet at the clubhouse, where—golf aside—they will be served breakfast, lunch and liquid refreshments throughout the day before heading back to Citizen Kanebridge Lodge for a special dinner, fun awards ceremony and more drinks.
Located just 10 minutes from the Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in Berrima, the stunning Mount Broughton course gives players—male and female, and ranging from amateur to semi professional—the chance to compete in a golf day with plenty of high-jinks and food along with way.
The event is part of the new offering from Citizen Kanebridge, a private membership club based in Sydney. Citizen Kanebridge allows members to have access to the Robb Report Club(RR1) based in the United States of America, Citizen Kanebridge Lodge in the Southern Highlands of NSW, and The Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) in Circular Quay, Sydney.
Members interested in Golf Open Day, may enquire by reaching out to leanne@citizenkanebridge.com.au. For more information on Golf Open day, you can download the information brochure here.
Love golf? jump to our golf connoisseurship package from the Spring 2024 issue of Robb Report ANZ.
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