If Mark Webber decided to continue his Formula 1 career for another couple of years after his retirement year in 2013, he would have been up against Max Verstappen on track. Having raced against his dad Jos Verstappen, the Australian would have been in a unique position to have raced against two generations of drivers. Webber remembers how Jos was a very "physical" driver after doing some testing alongside him at Arrows, in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365.com . "[Jos] was just a beast, physical. I don't know how much training he did, but he was a strong boy," Webber recalled. "I think there was one test where he was pressing the throttle so hard, he bent the whole throttle!" Webber compares the robustness of Jos to Max, pointing to last years Belgium Grand Prix when the two-time World Champion recovered from 14th on the grid to win having taken power unit-related penalties. "He's obviously very robust, to say the least," explains Webber. "But he backs himself and he doesn't play people on their reputations, which is awesome. At Spa last year, it was like the whole field gave up. Whenever he arrived on them, they nearly waved him past."
Webber: When Max won his first race, it was clear that is was serious
Webber recalls how Verstappen took his first victory for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix at just 18 years old, making him the youngest winner in the history of F1. "The way he held off Kimi Raikkonen for his first victory at Red Bull, very impressive," added Webber. "Kimi, with all his experience, on his ass [for 60 laps], at Barcelona to finish that race with the front left [tyre in good condition] because you get a very asymmetric tyre load there. "For a young kid to understand all of this stuff early, braking [well] for Turn 10 because it's easy to pinch that tyre [there]. "Kimi was on him and Max, just the way he won his first Grand Prix it was like 'F****** righto, this is serious'."
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