Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have vowed to "still be in love", even if they battle each other for the Formula 1 title this season.
Verstappen currently leads the championship, moving a few points further ahead of nearest rival Charles Leclerc by finishing third at the Monaco Grand Prix. His Ferrari rival looked set to win the race, but his chances were scuppered by a costly pit stop error made by his team.
Instead, it was Perez who undercut the other Ferrari racer Carlos Sainz to take the lead and go on to secure his third career victory in F1. Not only was it a proud moment for the Mexican, it was also evidence for Red Bull that he is capable of winning races when Verstappen cannot.
His results have been consistent so far this year – since his engine failure at the Bahrain curtain-raiser, Perez has finished inside the top four of all six races. On four occasions he has stood on the podium, finishing second three times before making his way onto the top step in Monte Carlo.
That consistency has seen the man from Guadalajara pull to within just 15 points of his team-mate after the first seven rounds of the season. It has also caused many to begin to genuinely consider him as a 2022 title contender, alongside Verstappen and Leclerc.
Asked about the current situation in a post-race press conference in Monaco, both drivers looked relaxed when asserting that a title fight would not cause their good relationship to turn sour. "I don't think [things will change]," said Verstappen.
He was about to expand on his answer when Perez interrupted with a light-hearted question of his own. "We're still gonna be in love, right?" asked the Mexican with a smile, before Verstappen immediately responded: "Yeah absolutely – why would that change?"
While team-mates are supposed to work together, large egos and the lure of becoming world champion have led to plenty of intra-team rivalries in the past. Lewis Hamilton is no stranger to such drama, having endured testing relationships with the likes of Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg in the past.
The most recent bad blood at Red Bull was between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, just as the team came to the fore as the dominant force in the sport between 2010 and 2013. While Vettel won four world titles in a row, the Australian felt he was never given the same chance for success by the team's hierarchy.
