Verstappen confident good Ricciardo relationship would survive title fight

Max Verstappen is confident his good teammate relationship with Daniel Ricciardo would continue at Red Bull next year even amid a possible fight for the Formula 1 world championship.

Ricciardo and Verstappen have enjoyed a friendly, cordial relationship at Red Bull since becoming teammates in May 2016, albeit without the pressure of a title fight as Mercedes and Ferrari have dominated proceedings.

With Red Bull enjoying a strong end to the season and already angling for a championship bid next year, questions are arising over whether their good relationship would remain through the pressure of a title fight.

"He’s a great guy. Of course on-track you always try to beat each other but off-track we can have a great laugh," Verstappen said.

"I think we really respect each other and to be honest I’ve never really experienced something like that in racing, to have such a good teammate to really have fun with. So I hope we can be teammates for a long time."

Asked if this good relationship would survive a title battle, Verstappen said: "I think so, because we respect each other. For sure when you fight for a world championship it will become more tense on the track, but at the end of the day, you always come back to where you respect each other.

"You have to accept when one guy is faster than the other and I think that’s what we can do. Also when somebody has a good race we can really say to each other ‘well done, you really deserved that’, and I also think that’s important.”