Next year could be make or break for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari
Former F1 star Mark Webber says 2017 will decided if Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari have a future together after the German grew increasingly frustrated by the team's underachievement.
MARK WEBBER insists next season could make or break Sebastian Vettel's relationship with Ferrari.
The Italian team have failed to deliver this season and are now without a win in 12 months.
The strain is beginning to show with Webber's former Red Bull team-mate Vettel voicing his frustration at the team.
The German is out of contract at the end of next season and Webber says it is vital Ferrari get it right in 2017 if they want to keep the four-time world champion.
He said: "Next year is a massive year for Ferrari and Sebastian. It is a juggernaut in terms of their collective belief in the team and whether they have the weapons in place to get the job done.
"Ferrari have to target Mercedes and start winning week in and week out.
"This season there was championship talk at the start of the year in Melbourne and then Seb did not even do the formation lap in Bahrain!
"The momentum, consistency and getting the team together has not worked. It is a disappointing season for them and they have not even achieved their potential.
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"Even things like reliability, they have not even managed to bag that. Strategy looks flakey at times. They look reactive rather than proactive, so next year is a massive year for them."
Unlike Vettel, Webber has been enjoying a good run of success and he and his Porsche team-mates Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley have now won three in a row.
That moves the defending world champions into fourth place in the World Endurance Championship rankings with Webber saying the trio have been galvanised after missing out on winning at Le Mans.
He added: "Timo, Brendon and mysef are really proud of what we have done to get that level of performance after the last year.
"We are proud of what we have been able to do and that we are very tight. Pitstops have been awesome and car prep has been great.
"We obviously missed the double points at Le Mans, we were in the window with Toyota and the sister car and we also led a lot of laps, it was nip and tuck and we were looking great, so that was a tough pill for us to swallow.
"Since then we have just said let's win as many as we can we are driving well. I cannot be happier with how it is going.
"We want to win as many races as we can this year and show who the best car is. We are focused on closing the year out because it is not over yet."
Webber was speaking after taking his WEC Porsche 919 Hybrid on London's streets, whizzing past Westminster, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.
He said: "It was bloody unique. We have been gun-shy about doing it for a few years but a lot of planning went into it and it was an optimistic loop.
"But stopping people in their tracks was the best bit. People were like 'what the hell is this thing?'
"And others with their phones...it was like a Pokemon moment with people filming the car.
"It was great to drive round Big Ben, Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square; taking the 919 through there was a real buzz.
"The hardest bit was driving slowly! I needed to keep the speed below 30mph, that was the difficult bit."