Webber: Verstappen could 'wrap it up' with three races to go

Ex-Red Bull driver Mark Webber believes his former team and its all-round RB18 car will continue to dominate the 2022 F1 world championship.

Red Bull Racing has won seven of the nine races disputed so far this season, with Max Verstappen's six wins handing him a comfortable 36-point lead over teammate Sergio Perez in the Driver's standings .

But the Milton Keynes-based outfit and Verstappen remain strongly challenged by arch-rivals Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, thanks to the Monegasque's talent and to the Scuderia's F1-75 which is generally considered as the fastest car in terms of one-lap pace.

However, Webber believes that the all-encompassing qualities of Red Bull's new-generation car will allow the team to continue to impose its dominance on its main opponents to the point where its star driver could seal the title will before the end of the season.

• Read also: Horner fears F1 title will end in courts due to cost cap

"Red Bull will continue to dominate this championship," said Webber, quoted by The Guardian.

"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."

Webber also knows that his former team, with which he won all nine of his career wins in F1, thrives under pressure.

"I know deep down they like the heat, delivering under pressure," added the Aussie.

"Strategically they are brave, they are quite free, even with the trophy cabinet they have, they don’t have paralysis by analysis. Give them a job and they just get on with it."

While Perez ambitions to mix it up with Verstappen and Leclerc in the fight for the title, Webber doesn't see the Mexican holding his own alongside his teammate for the duration of the championship.

"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,” Webber said.

"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."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter