F1: Ricciardo/Verstappen split on Malaysia battle

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are split on whether being Red Bull Formula 1 teammates influenced their battle during last Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The pair were involved in a spirited dice for second at Sepang, with Verstappen on fresher tyres trying to move past Ricciardo, who stayed ahead and won the F1 race after Lewis Hamilton's late engine failure.

Ricciardo's defence was stern, and the pair ran side-by-side through Turns 5 and 6, before the Australian won the battle under braking at Turn 7 on lap 39 of the 56.

When asked if he thought twice about fighting his teammate, Ricciardo said: "If I'm honest, not really. It's mainly if I'm attacking someone, I'll probably know if someone is going to put up more of a fight.

"Some drivers defend harder than others, but in terms of me defending, or trying to hold onto a position, then it's more on my terms. I'm more the one trying to put my car where I want and it's down to them to go around. So in terms of defence, it doesn't matter who it is.

"Obviously I was aware we're teammates, and probably in the back of your mind you think 'OK, be sensible - in terms of if you are going to commit to a line, stay on it - and if he slides into me then it's not my fault. I can say, 'well look, I stayed on my line'.

"Drive hard, but whatever line I go for, stay on that. In the defence mode it doesn't really change if it's Max or anyone else."

As the aggressor, Verstappen admitted sharing a Red Bull garage with Ricciardo was a factor.

"Into Turn 6, I was like, 'well, if it was someone else next to me, I would have got the move done'," he said. "I would have pushed them wide. But it's your team-mate, you can't.

"We showed the team that we could do it in a very respectful way and I think that shows also for the future a lot of confidence.

"It's not easy in such high-speed corners, to really know where you are compared to your teammate. It was good fun."

Originally on Autosport.com