Red Bull chief Christian Horner says there is "genuine respect" between rivals Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen and Leclerc have each won two of the first four races this F1 season, with the pair currently leading the driver standings. Leclerc is top with 86 points, having won in Bahrain and Australia, while defending champion Verstappen is second with 59 points after wins in Saudi Arabia and Imola.
When asked about the pair's rivalry, Horner believes their history on the karting circuit means they respect each other. "I think they've grown up racing each other in karting and so on, and they know each other very well," Horner said.
"They come from the same generation, and there is a genuine respect between the two of them." Horner's comments come after Leclerc revealed that he and Verstappen "hated each other at one point" while competing against each other in karting as children.
Speaking at Imola, Leclerc said: "It's going to be very close. It's always been very close, especially in the junior categories.
"In karting I remember it was either me or him, and that's why we hated each other at one point, because very often it didn't end in the best way possible. But it was good times.
"I think we just have very, two very different styles of driving. Sometimes one will win, sometimes the other might, but it's fun. I like it."
Now a decade later, with the pair now competing in F1, Leclerc feels they have both "matured a lot". "It's a very different situation," he added. "We have matured a lot, we are much older.
"At this time there were episodes which make us hate each other, I'm pretty sure, in some occasions. But then you grow up. Obviously, we've both achieved one of our dreams, which was to arrive in Formula 1. And at that time, it was just a dream.
Everything looked impossible. So, it's great now to be fighting in Formula 1, and there's a lot of respect for each other. It has changed for sure."
Verstappen shares a similar sentiment to Leclerc, insisting it is "really nice" to still be competing against him. "We basically grew up through go-karting from, I think, 12 years old," he said.
"And of course, we were very similar in age. So, we already had a lot of go-karting battles. But also, we made our way to Formula 1.
"Not only the two of us, a lot of drivers we know, we already saw each other at the go-karting tracks, and now we're all here in F1, basically fighting with top teams. It's really nice to see that and I hope, of course, it can continue for a long time."
