Mark Webber has backed Max Verstappen to retain his Formula 1 world title "with three races to go", insisting " Red Bull will continue to dominate this championship".
Verstappen is currently top of the driver standings with 175 points, with his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in second with 129. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is third with 126, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is languishing in sixth place with 77 points.
And Webber believes Verstappen will comfortably win a second world championship this season and potentially even win it with time to spare. "Red Bull will continue to dominate this championship," he said.
"They have a car that is very good on downforce levels, on all compounds of tyre. It's like a tennis player on all surfaces or a golfer on all holes, short, long, chipping, putting, driving, the Red Bull can do everything.
"Red Bull have pretty much an answer for anything at the moment, Max could wrap it up with three races to go." During his own Formula 1 career, Webber raced for Red Bull between 2007 and 2013, playing second fiddle to Sebastian Vettel when he won four consecutive world championships.
This year, it is clear Red Bull are favouring Verstappen over Perez and Webber believes the Dutchman is simply a superior driver. "I like Sergio a lot but over the course of the season, over time, Max will just find a way to start accumulating bigger points," he added.
"In Azerbaijan Max drove away down the road, it was a very emphatic victory. Then in Canada it's raining, it's dry, it's cold, it's tricky and Max all weekend was phenomenal."
And Perez recently labelled Verstappen "one of the best in the history of Formula 1", telling Fox Sports MX : "Max is very good, he is a very complete driver. I think he is without a doubt one of the best in the history of Formula 1.
"If not the best, because of everything, because of how he has been educated from the beginning. He has skills that no other driver in Formula 1 has: the ability to be at the limit from Practice 1 to the end, no other driver in Formula 1 has, without a doubt."
