Webber backs Ferrari over McLaren to finish third – “Their drivers are at an advantage”

Mark Webber has backed Ferrari over McLaren to finish third in the Constructors’ Championship, saying their driver pairing is stronger than the British team’s.

Ferrari and McLaren are engaged in a tight battle for the title of best of the rest. As it stands after the Turkish GP, McLaren sit 7.5 points above the Italian team. It is still a battle that can go right down to the wire.

Webber backed Ferrari over McLaren to take the bronze medal, and said that the pairing of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is more solid than Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.

“I just think that Ferrari, both of their drivers are an advantage over Lando and Daniel at the moment,” Webber told the F1 Nation podcast, as quoted by Racingnews365.com.

Ferrari vs McLaren at Spa: how Ferrari will attempt to limit power  disadvantage
Webber backs Team Red in the Ferrari vs McLaren battle. Source: scuderiafans.com

“Daniel’s still not quite firing and (he’s) wanting to bring a bit more to the table.

“Carlos drove awesome (in Turkey), Leclerc was there for most of the Grand Prix marking (Max) Verstappen, for God’s sakes.

“I think that Ferrari are having a little bit of an upturn closing the back of this year off. McLaren have missed some big opportunities, but in general it’s been a tremendous battle between the two, so I don’t really know.”

Pros on that list

However, Webber also stated that McLaren has factors that favour them, and that said factors could propel them to glory as well.

“I think that operationally, McLaren just have that little bit more calmness and firepower,” he continued.

“I think that the McLaren seems to be a little track-sensitive – it certainly didn’t turn up in Turkey. It likes lower downforce levels by the looks of it – quick in Monza, Russia’s a little bit in the middle; they were very quick there with a pole from Norris.

“McLaren have just had a long, rough phase, and I’d just like to see them (do good). They’ve worked so hard, you saw the emotion come out in Monza (when they claimed a 1-2 finish). It was just so good to see.

“I’d like to see them capitalise on the Constructors’ in third place. Their starts are good. I think they’re very good internally in terms of reflecting on their mistakes, and the communication is good around that,” he concluded.

Read more: McLaren annoyed with F1’s schedule for 2022 – “An ideal calendar has 20 races”

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