It was a breathtaking few corners during the Malaysian Grand Prix where Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen ran side-by-side, wheel-to-wheel, which ultimately proved that there is great mutual respect between the two.
This was the sentiment of team principal Christian Horner who allowed his drivers to race, and saw Ricciardo and Verstappen come home first and second for the first time since 2013 for the energy drinks outfit.
Horner reflected after a tense race, “I think that what we’ve seen is that there is a real respect between the two of them. They are both good racers, hard racers. I felt comfortable letting the two guys go head-to-head today.
“There was no interference, and the instruction was you are racing each other, but just respect each other, which is what we talked about this morning, and give each other space. Some great wheel to wheel racing between the two of them, but at all times they respected all the hundreds of employees that they represent.”
Verstappen was attacking Ricciardo three quarters of the way through the race, with fresher tyres he was hounding his teammate and making his feelings known over the team radio.
But Horner explained, “We’ve heard it the other way around as well,” Horner further commented. “Those situations you deal with at the time but I don’t see it as an issue. Obviously a driver…. especially in the world of tyre preservation that we currently live in, it’s a big factor of how these guys are going racing at the moment.
“Sometimes, if you are the tail car, you would theoretically be able to push bit harder, but the guy in front, you can see from Lewis early in the stint, is really nursing his tyres,” added Horner.
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