06/02/2017
NEWS STORY
If anyone knows the perils of your team recruiting a highly talented young hot-shot as your teammate, it is Mark Webber, the Australian having experienced, first hand, the rise of Sebastian Vettel.
Who better therefore than the veteran Australian to pass judgement on countryman Daniel Ricciardo's mission in 2017, with Max Verstappen sitting in the second Red Bull.
Despite his own experiences, Webber, who attended the Bathurst 12 Hours at the weekend, believes Ricciardo has the nous to keep young Max in check.
"I think Daniel still has more composure," said Webber, according to Motorsport.com. "Obviously that experience will be very useful for him, particularly in the early part of the championship.
"When you've seen as many regulation changes, like he has done, driven different types of cars, that's an advantage for him.
"It's going to be a good battle there," he admitted. "But the composure side is a big plus for Daniel. He's got plenty of fire too, and it's all about putting the weekends together. It will be tight, as it was at the end of last year. Max is still learning, with that unbelievable talent."
Having leapfrogged Ferrari in 2016 and with hopes of further improvements from Tag-Heuer (Renault), Webber believes Red Bull could take another step forward this year, especially with the new aero regulations.
I think Red Bull have had a quiet winter and they're going to be quite strong," said Webber. "It really depends on who unlocks these new regulations, traditionally, Adrian (Newey) has been very good at that.
"Mercedes have had the luxury of closing out the constructors' championship very early last year, so that gives you a big chance to put your resources into the next year's programme earlier than anyone else potentially. They have a very good engine, we know that's their main strength.
"Operationally, Red Bull were the best team last year. With reliability they were the best team, Mercedes had a few technical challenges. So if it's nip and tuck when down to the fine points, Red Bull are very good at that."