Verstappen 'has to be ready' - Webber

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Mark Webber says Max Verstappen "has to be ready" to take his chance at Red Bull following his shock promotion.

Verstappen will replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull with immediate effect following a number of disappointing performances from the Russian so far this season, with Kvyat dropping down to Toro Rosso. Webber knows the ruthlessness with which Red Bull can sometimes treat its drivers but says advisor Helmut Marko is solely focused on driver performance.

“It was probably on the cards even before Russia, so in a way you probably feel there was something brewing,” Webber is quoted as saying by NBC Sports. “They’ve done it. And let’s see if Max can break Red Bull records again. He’s got no choice [to be ready]. He has to be ready.

“[Kvyat has] had a year and 30% there in terms of time. They don’t believe that he’s done enough. In their eyes he hasn’t done enough and they see that one other guy is doing enough.

“Normally you wait until the end of the year but obviously you know that doesn’t happen sometimes, particularly with Red Bull. They change it whenever they feel – bang. Helmut just wants performance. He wants to put the fastest guys in the best scenario as quick as possible.

“People just say that the mistakes that Dany made, it was off the back of that, but obviously it was probably accumulating to a point where they were not overly happy with his performance in the build-up.”

Speaking ahead of today's World Endurance Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps, Webber believes the decision to drop Kvyat is "harsh" but will soon be forgotten.

“Yeah, I feel it’s harsh but it’s a big business and things move fast and I think [Red Bull is] getting ahead of the ’17 market a bit, making sure everything’s ready.

“It’ll be a complete non-topic in six months as usual in F1, even three months. Everyone moves on. In Formula 1 you have nowhere to hide.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.