Australian former professional racing driver Mark Webber feels that Scuderia Ferrari have the edge over McLaren when it comes to their driver line-up this season. The two team are currently involved in the fight for P3 in the 2021 Formula 1 Constructor Standings, behind Mercedes and Red Bull, as the Italian side has reduced the gap to just 7.5 points at the end of the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, thanks to Charles Leclerc fourth place and the P8 of Carlos Sainz.
The former Red Bull driver believes that the driver line-up of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is a key area of strength for the Maranello team.
“I just think that [at] Ferrari, both of their drivers are an advantage over Lando and Daniel at the moment,” Mark Webber told the F1 Nation podcast “Daniel’s still not quite firing and [he’s] wanting to bring a bit more to the table.”
At the same time, Mark Webber admitted that McLaren has the advantage when it comes to team management, as could be seen several times this season: “I think that operationally, McLaren just have that little bit more calmness and firepower.”
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Regarding the final outcome of the 2021 Formula 1 season in the fight between Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren, the former Red Bull driver feels the Italian side is on an “upturn” during this final part of the championship.
“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 [which way it could go]. 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, [they were] quick in Monza, Russia’s a little bit in the middle, [and] 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 [come through]. 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.
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