Lewis Hamilton insists that there is no personal hostility between himself and Max Verstappen, his main rival for the 2021 world championship - at least, not from his side.
The pair have been locked together in the points standings all season, and have exchanged increasingly barbed comments as the season has progressed especially after two races in which the pair collided.
But Hamilton has sought to cool the increasingly heated rhetoric between them this weekend and taken a more coniliatory approach in his latest comments to the media.
"It’s difficult," Hamilton admitted in a recent interview with ESPN. "When you are around people and you are in hostile scenarios, and when they are around you, they are one way with you and they are different when you are not around.
"I don’t hold any hostility against him. I feel he’s a tremendous talent and I’m enjoying racing with him.
"Me and Max, when we have seen each other after the race, I have always tried to be respectful whether he is first or he’s behind me.
"I don’t feel like it’s changed," he added. "I always try to make sure I go over to him and it doesn’t feel any different to me.
"Do I agree with everything he does? It doesn’t even matter. All I can control is what I do and how I handle things."
Red Bull were apoplectic when contact with Hamilton sent Verstappen flying into a heavy impact with the barriers on the first lap of the British Grand Prix, which Hamilton went on to win despite being handed a penalty.
And the pair ended up in the gravel in the Italian GP, with Verstappen this time judged the aggressor in the race and handed a penalty for the next race in Russia.
"I called him after Silverstone, but again - I don’t mean to be patronising - but I’m much older," he said. "It was important for me to call and to be able to break the ice. I wouldn’t have been able to do that when I was 25.
"Of course, we sat in the stewards’ office the other day [in Monza] and it wasn’t hostile," Hamilton declared. "He gave his point of view, and I gave my point of view."
Hamilton certainly hopes that the outcome of this year's championship isn't decided by a further controversial on-track clash between the pair.
"I would never want to win in that way," Hamilton asserted. “There’s never ever a question about that.
"If that means you don’t win at all, at least you have your dignity. I wouldn’t want to win any other way. You always want to win the right way.
“I love racing, I love fighting for the championship," he continued. "At the end of the year that’s what I’ve been working for.
"You can’t say you wouldn’t be disappointed if you don’t achieve what you are trying to achieve with the group of people you are trying to achieve it with.
"[But] whatever happens, at the end of the year we will shake hands and be back to fight again next year.
"There are a lot of positives to take from this year, and I think hopefully there will be some more moving forward. It’s been a hell of a year!"
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