Verstappen wants to keep Ricciardo as teammate

Max Verstappen admits that he has a lot of respect for Daniel Ricciardo, and hopes that they are teammates for a "very long time". The two were paired together in May of 2016, when Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull in place of Daniil Kvyat.

Since then the two have shared a strong friendship and form what many believe to be the strongest line-up on the grid. Verstappen recently extended his Red Bull contract until at least 2020, but Ricciardo's current deal expires at the end of this year.

Speaking to Speed Week, Verstappen hopes that Ricciardo stays on: "We have a lot of respect for each other and frankly, in my racing career so far, I've never had that much to do with a teammate. Even if we give anything to fighting hard with one another on the track, Daniel is a great guy and we have a lot of fun next to the track. So I hope that we will be teammates for a very long time."

Red Bull's 2017 season was somewhat underwhelming as the energy drink squad was tipped to challenge Mercedes for the title. With the 2018 title on the team's radar, Verstappen is confident that his relationship with Ricciardo would survive amid an intra-team title fight.

"I think so," Verstappen said when asked about that scenario, "because we respect each other. Sure, when you fight for the title it gets more intense, but in the end you come back to that mutual respect. You have to accept when someone is faster and I think we can do that. If one of us has a good race, the other one says that he really deserves it -- and I think that's very important."

Fergal Walsh