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Ricciardo 'not naive' over Verstappen relationship

Daniel Ricciardo admits the relationship with Max Verstappen is likely to be harder to handle if Red Bull is more competitive in 2017.

Since Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix this year, the two drivers have been closely matched with Ricciardo scoring 220 points as team-mates while Verstappen picked up 191. While the two largely got on well this year, ahead of the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations in 2017, Ricciardo is aware it is unlikely to be the same situation if Red Bull is strong next season.

"Well, I’m not naïve," Ricciardo told the official Red Bull website. "If we’re fighting for wins I’m sure the pressure and tension will rise – but hopefully we’ll be able to look each other in the eye and say “good job” afterwards."

And Ricciardo sees the new regulations as a good chance for Red Bull to at least get closer to Mercedes than it has been over the past three years.

"I honestly think it’s a good thing for us. It seems to put more emphasis on aerodynamics and I have a lot of faith in our aerodynamics department. It’s out strong suit. From that point of view I don’t think it can hurt us. Also, I think the cars are going to look pretty bad-ass. Mean, wider tyres, more muscular. Grrrrrr…"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.