Mark Webber reckons Australia’s next great F1 hope, Daniel Ricciardo, has the skills to match it with his new Red Bull Racing teammate four-time world champion Sebatsian Vettel. At least as far as qualifying goes, anyway.
“I think he’ll give Seb a real hard time in qualifying,” said Mark. “It’ll be 50:50 in the first year, I reckon.”
Webber says the dramatic changes to F1’s aerodynamic regulations could be the key for Ricciardo.
“I took a few off Seb last year—and the blown floor is gone now,” Webber told Motor Sport magazine. “I think Daniel will be fine, and it certainly won’t hurt him that he’s come through the Red Bull system. I just hope he gets better starts than I did!”
It would be no mean feat for Daniel to fulfill Webber’s qualifying predicition. As Mark says himself, Vettel has few peers when it comes to a one-off flying lap even though he rates Fernando Alonso as the best driver he raced against.
“I always thought Fernando was the best, and I still do—on Sundays,” he said. “On one lap, though, I think Seb’s got him covered—and I’m talking in terms of preparation, not just pace.
“Fernando’s had a lot of poles in his time, but probably age has come into it—you lose a little bit. In the race, though, he’s got more strings to his bow than anyone else, and he’s relentless.
“Seb’s strengths, as we know, are escaping at the start, and running in clean air—when you get these things in clean air now, it’s a whole other story, in terms of tyres and so on. He’s like a computer, isn’t he? His only weakness was always fast corners.”
Some interesting comments from Mark there. And good work from Motor Sport magazine to get that many words from him without one “obviously” in there.
[Source: ESPN F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
