Mark Webber believes Max Verstappen isn’t yet a match for Lewis Hamilton on race day, but the former Red Bull driver says the Dutchman is on a par with the Briton in qualifying trim.<\/p>\n
For the second year running, Verstappen trailed Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas in the world championship as Mercedes continued to impose its dominance.<\/p>\n
After securing three wins in 2019, the Red Bull charger added two victories to his career record in F1 in 2020, capping off his season with a clean sweep in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
Verstappen is generally considered as Hamilton’s most threatening rival, although the Dutchman’s equipment hasn’t so far allowed him to consistently take the fight to Mercedes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Webber believes Hamilton has found his match in Verstappen on Saturdays, but on race day, the seven-time world champion still holds an edge over his rival according to the Aussie.<\/p>\n
“Max has done a very, very, very good job,” Webber told Dutch website Formula1<\/em>.<\/p>\n “He is in the final phase of fine-tuning his craftsmanship, if I may put it that way. Is he already Lewis Hamilton on Saturday, in that he is equal to Lewis in qualifying? Yes.<\/p>\n “Is he already Lewis on Sunday? No, he is not. But that’s normal.<\/p>\n “You don’t win five world titles in your first five years in Formula 1. Nobody has done that.”<\/p>\n Webber alludes to experience as the current differentiating factor between Hamilton and Verstappen.<\/p>\n “Not many drivers get into such a situation, that you can dominate for a while and have the peace and regularity to do so without becoming complacent. That is experience. He must learn that.<\/p>\n “He and Charles Leclerc, by the way. They are the hot shots to come.”<\/p>\n Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers<\/p>\n Keep up to date with all the F1 news via <\/em>Facebook<\/em> and <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Webber believes Max Verstappen isn’t yet a match for Lewis Hamilton on race day, but the former Red Bull driver says the Dutchman is on a par with the Briton in qualifying trim. For the second year running, Verstappen trailed Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas in the world championship as Mercedes continued to impose … <\/p>\n\nRead also: Verstappen says Perez will help Red Bull put ‘pressure’ on Mercedes\n<\/ul>\n