The rivalry that can define F1 in 2017

The explosive rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has been the main talking point this year, but just behind them another intra-team rivalry has been developing and is set to take centre stage.

If Red Bull's line-up of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo isn't currently the best on the grid, it isn't far off.

In Verstappen, Red Bull has the youngest winner in F1 history - recorded in his first race with the team, no less - and has been the squad's top-scoring driver since he was promoted from Toro Rosso and handed a new long-term contract.

Ricciardo, meanwhile, has proven himself to be one of the fastest and most consistent drivers in F1. He outperformed his more decorated team-mate Sebastian Vettel in 2014 when he joined the team, and since Vettel's departure to Ferrari has been outstanding in his role as its leader.

Both drivers have the potential to be world champion. But as has been shown at Mercedes and during the Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost McLaren era, it's not easy to keep two title contenders happy.

Should Red Bull respond well to the 2017 regulation changes, as you would expect it to, and Renault continue to make progress, boss Christian Horner will have his hands full trying to manage the duo.

Verstappen asserted his authority with his Barcelona breakthrough on his first race weekend with Red Bull. It was a double blow for Ricciardo, who could and should have won that race had he not been put on an inferior strategy.

Ricciardo's misery continued as he lost another win in Monaco a fortnight later, and his form took a dip. Verstappen outperformed him in three of the next four races.

His head dropped. Verstappen was giving him more to think about since replacing Daniil Kvyat. At least in the short term, the Australian was failing to respond.

But by the time he arrived in Hungary, something had changed. Ricciardo's head was back in the game. He was 0.25 seconds quicker than Verstappen in qualifying and outpaced him in the race to take third.

In Germany, the qualifying gap was only a tenth and though he spent just over half the race behind his team-mate, Ricciardo ended up ahead and his superior relative pace in a comparable final stint proved he had the edge.

The way he reacts to disappointment publicly has changed. This season, he has made no attempt to mask it with his trademark smile.

He knows his opportunities to win the world title are quickly running out and he is not prepared to let his chance go.

"Because I'm always smiling and seen as the nice guy, it's important for people to see that when things aren't as they should be, I'm not just going to get walked over," he said.

"I will stand on my own two feet, and show this does mean a lot to me, that my desire is very strong in this sport.

"I've done it well and said things when I felt I needed to, and then I've just gone about my business when I haven't really needed to do very much. Which is why I don't want to say I am ever satisfied, because I am, but until I really get that world championship I will always have my back teeth clenched."

With that second place at Hockenheim, Ricciardo was just five points shy of Verstappen's tally in their eight races together. That doesn't take into account the lost points in Spain and Monaco, where wins beckoned. In qualifying, he holds a 7-1 advantage.

It has been a good response to the threat posed by Verstappen. But how will the Dutchman respond to Ricciardo's recent upturn?

He found himself in a fortunate situation on joining Red Bull. If he was slow to get on the pace, that could be put down to him changing teams mid-season. If he was quick straight away, he would be lauded as a future great.

Verstappen achieved the latter and has continued to display his spectacular racecraft, which included a brilliant move around the outside of Ricciardo at the first corner in Germany.

He even obeyed team orders by moving over for Ricciardo at Hockenheim, something he refused to do for Toro Rosso in Singapore last year.

Horner said Verstappen proved he is a team player in doing so, but would he be so accommodating if a race win was on the line or if he was in the midst of a title battle?

Verstappen's attacking and aggressive approach to racing has been a huge plus for F1, but his antics under braking have come under scrutiny from his rivals. The 18-year-old says he is unfazed by such criticism.

"Of course I'm always on the limit, but that's how you become successful, by being on the limit - because if you are under it then you will never achieve what you are capable of," he said.

"So for me [the criticism] doesn't really change a lot. I will drive exactly the same as I have done before because there is nothing wrong with it."

But will that stance alter when he is going wheel-to-wheel with his team-mate in a fight for the title? It provides an intriguing prospect for the future.

How Red Bull deals with the rivalry will come to define 2017. Verstappen's former team-mate, Carlos Sainz Jr, believes Toro Rosso has become "more of a team" since Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull.

"On the team dynamic, maybe everything is a bit more open, everyone started working a bit more together, maybe started working in more of a team," said Sainz. "The separation was there, but it's normal that it was there when you have two strong team-mates.

"When you have two strong team-mates, there will always be some friction between the drivers. It was not that I wasn't liking it. We had to deal with it, but I didn't see it as a bad situation."

Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said there was "considerable unrest" at Toro Rosso before the change. The same cannot happen at Red Bull. Things are starting to get serious now.

Red Bull has emerged as Mercedes' closest challenger this year, jumping ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship in the last race. Given its strengths on the chassis side, it will likely provide a sterner challenge in 2017.

The team cannot afford unrest. It last encountered such a situation when Vettel and Mark Webber were team-mates.

Horner concedes it was a challenge to manage the situation effectively, but ultimately it came out of the period with four drivers' and four constructors' championships.

That said, it had the strongest car for those seasons, something it's unlikely to have next year.

For now Horner seems content with the relationship between the team's drivers.

"It's very healthy and there is a great respect between the two of them," he said. "As far as team-mates go, they seem to like each other and they want similar things from the car - and beyond that they are both very, very fast."

But should they start contesting the title, Red Bull will have to sharpen up how it deals with the situation this time around, learning the lessons from that experience, as well as the one Mercedes is currently enduring.

If Red Bull gets it right, next year could be phenomenal. But get it wrong and the team could be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.