Are They Best Of Friends? Or Bitter Enemies?

This is no bromance


Article heading image for Are They Best Of Friends? Or Bitter Enemies?

Will 2017 be the year friendly team-mates become bitter enemies?

Maybe.

Daniel Ricciardo admits this season could be a lot different from the last one when the lights go green in Melbourne this weekend.

Tired of picking up the crumbs from the Mercedes domination of the last few years, the Red Bull garage is itching for wins - lots of them.

And with two extremely quick and talented drivers sharing a garage, things could get very interesting if the new package is capable of knocking off the Mercs.

The 27 year old dubbed by some as the "smiling assassin" admits he and Max Verstappen won't always get along.

“I can’t be naive and think we are still going to love each other no matter what, even if we are banging wheel to wheel every race,” Ricciardo told The Guardian.

“We are competitors. If there is tension or friction as the season goes on that’s part of the game.”

It's not the first time their boss Christian Horner has had to deal with a couple of warring drivers.

Relations were often frosty between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber through the team's glory years when they won 4 titles between 2010-13.

Whatever happens, Horner wants his star steerers to put Red Bull first.

"I am expecting there to be close racing between the two,” he says, “but the bottom line is they both work for the team."

"We are not going to create some enormous rule book for each and every scenario. The rules of engagement are clear. The priority is the team."

Time will tell if the mutual respect the pair have shared wears thin but it'll be fascinating to watch as the season unfolds.

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23 March 2017




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