Sebastian Vettel says he never lost respect for Daniel Ricciardo throughout the 2014 season.
As it turned out, this year was the German’s last campaign with Red Bull, where he earlier won four consecutive drivers’ titles with Mark Webber as his teammate.
"The fact that I never had the best relationship with Mark is well known," Vettel, who has now switched to Ferrari, told the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick.
But for 2014, Webber was replaced with another Australian, Daniel Ricciardo, who won three races versus the number 1-wearing Vettel’s zero.
"First of all," 27-year-old Vettel said, "Daniel is of a different generation. He only knows this new formula one.
"But we worked with respect. I’ve known him for many years and there was no problem.
"That he ended up with more points bothers me of course but that’s not a reason to not like him," Vettel added.
Now, Vettel said his new goal is to become Ferrari’s "tenth world champion".
But he admitted it might take some time: "We have not set any timetables, as that rarely works in formula one."