Mark Webber: Max could win the title ahead of schedule

Mark Webber has no doubts that Mac Verstappen is on his way to his second championship title and considers the Dutchman a “phenomenal driver”.

Mark Webber played seven seasons for Red Bull Racing, taking nine wins in that time. Max Verstappen is in his seventh year with the team and has won six races in the first half of this season alone. And in total he has 26 wins. Is it any wonder that a former Formula 1 driver speaks so commendably about a young colleague.

“Red Bull will continue to dominate the championship. Their car is distinguished by downward pressure on all rubber compounds, The Guardian newspaper quoted the Australian as saying. “There are tennis players who perform equally well on any surface, there are universally trained golfers – and the The Red Bull team is strong in everything, they take on every challenge equally well so that Max can win the title with three races before the end of the championship.”

Webber has been Sebastian Vettel’s partner in the years he has won four titles in a row, so he knows from personal experience that team tactics for Red Bull Racing are very common. However, he is willing to admit that Verstappen does have an advantage over his teammate: “I really like Sergio Perez, but as the season progresses, Max finds ways to earn more points. In Azerbaijan, he was far ahead and took an impressive victory. In Canada, Max performed phenomenally well all weekend in adverse and difficult conditions.

At the start of the season it looked like Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the favourite, while Red Bull had technical difficulties in the opening races, but then the Milton Keynes team managed to rectify the situation and now confidently leads the way the lead in both championship standings.

Two and a half months have passed since Leclerc’s last win, and although he has won four qualifiers since then, he was much less fortunate in the races, particularly in Barcelona and Baku, stopped due to material failures and in Monaco the team made a tactical score that put an end to his chances of winning.

Against this background, Red Bull Racing operates almost flawlessly, which Webber noted separately: “I know full well that this team loves when the rivalry escalates, they are eager to get high results despite the pressure. They act boldly and freely in choosing tactics, setting up any task for them and they will cope. Hanna Schmitz, their race strategist, was on the team when I was there. I really like that in Red Bull Racing there are still the same people who have had hard times and difficult periods, and in times of success.”