Daniel Ricciardo says mutual respect was key in his "honest and fair" duel with teammate Max Verstappen during Red Bull's Malaysian Grand Prix one-two.
Ricciardo and Verstappen engaged in a breathtaking, wheel-to-wheel duel on lap 39 which saw the Australian hold firm and prevail despite a strong attack from his teenage teammate. As it turned out, the battle was for the race victory and not second position, as race leader Lewis Hamilton's engine failed moments later.
Though both men were free to race until the end Verstappen never got close enough to challenge Ricciardo again, as the Australian recorded his first win since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix. After the race Ricciardo paid tribute to the way Verstappen drove.
"It was fair and clean with Max, it was fun," Ricciardo said. "That was the best part, I think we both enjoyed it.
"I saw we had an opportunity, and I was very determined not to let it go. I'm sure he would love to be in this position, but he's also honest and fair and I think today we can both hold our heads high. We've gained a lot of respect for each other."
Explaining their duel, Ricciardo said it was as enjoyable as it was respectful.
"I could see Max coming, I think it was into Turn 4, I went to the inside but I knew he'd probably switch back and get a good exit into Turn 5, out of the corner I had a bit of wheelspin and thought he'd probably get me quite easily into 5 - but I just had enough drive to stay on the inside but he gave me room, we both stayed in it.
"So he had the inside at 6 but I held around the outside and fortunately there weren't too many marbles, so you could run two cars side-by-side through there, which was fun, which was nice. So held that, then into 7 we tried to basically out-brake each other. I was a little bit on the cleaner line so could just go a little bit deeper into 7 and held off that time. It was cool. To race Formula One like that, high-speed corners, to be inches from each other. It's fun.
"You're in the heat of battle, you're seeing red but at the same time you've got to smile. You know the guy that's two metres to the right of you is having the same amount of fun and you're both trying to take what was eventually the lead of the race. So it's a good shot of adrenaline."
Red Bull boss Christian Horner says this respect was key in his decision not to implement team orders for the final 16 laps of the race.
"I think that what we've seen is that there is a real respect between the two of them. They are both good racers, hard racers. I felt comfortable letting the two guys go head-to-head [in the final laps]."