Mark Webber buys Porsche 918

Last week - August 27, to be precise - marked Mark Webber's 39th birthday.

To celebrate the passing of time, the nine-time F1 winner decided to treat himself to a new set of wheels, namely a Porsche 918 Spyder.

As you'd hope, the lightweight Weissach package was included, which strips a further 41kg from the car's weight courtesy of a lightweight stereo system, magnesium wheels, ceramic wheel bearings and more.

Webber also opted for a retro 'Salzburg' paint scheme, inspired by the Porsche 917 that won Le Mans in 1970.

Despite his current role as one of Porsche's LMP1 drivers, Webber has long been a fan of the marque's road cars, having bought a number of the rare varieties over the years.

A 911 GT3 RS 4.0 is the centrepiece of his collection, though the fearsome GT2 RS is also apparently on the 'never sell' list. Following his collection of the latter, Webber took a few lucky competition winners for hot laps in the car, which you can see below.

Webber's latest purchase clearly put him in a good mood, as along with team mates Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard, he took his first win in the World Endurance Championship at the weekend driving the Porsche 919 Hybrid.