Red Bull insist Verstappen not favoured over Ricciardo

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has insisted that Max Verstappen does not receive preferential treatment over Daniel Ricciardo in the team of the energy drink manufacturer even though the Dutchman is coming off a much better season than his team-mate and is considered by many in the sport to be a future world champion.

Verstappen is already a three-time Grand Prix winner at the age of just 20, and won two races in the second half of the 2017 campaign in Mexico and Malaysia.

Ricciardo has five wins to his name, but is eight years older than his colleague. Verstappen's rapid rise through the ranks of Formula One has led to many figures in the sport suggesting that he is given special treatment over Ricciardo at Red Bull, but Marko has been quick to dismiss such speculation even though Verstappen had the better campaign when not taking DNFs into consideration.

"We don’t have a number one," Marko told Formula One.

"Both drivers are equally treated and it is up to them to define the pecking order. I will always love the faster one! I didn’t favour him. But in qualifying he was most of the time faster.

"With seven DNF’s his season was not a walk in the park and sometimes his morale was really down – but it was a steep learning process for him and he came out better than he was before.

"His two wins were the proof."

Verstappen has recently signed a new contract with Red Bull until 2020, while Ricciardo is yet to put pen to paper on an extension.