It's a question local Formula One fans have been asking themselves ever since the Dutch wunderkind was promoted to the Red Bull team alongside one of our nation's most respected sportsmen.

We know Ricciardo's mix of determination, skill and effervescence offers Australia it's best chance at a world champion since Alan Jones in 1980. We also know that Verstappen looks like a once-in-a- generation mix of talent and connections that could derail it all.

The nature of the sport ensures that great rivals make great champions, if not always great teammates.

So three months in how are the Red Bull men getting along?

"I think Daniel and I have a very good relationship and I think that is very important," Verstappen told Fairfax Media before Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.  "That is why we can do things together to work for the team.

"Even I think when we will be at some point in a championship winning car. I think so long as you respect each other you can always help out each other."

There's little doubt the pair are aware of the other's talent and yet so far there's been none of the overt niggle that has marked Verstappen's blazing entry to the sport.

Last year at Singapore Verstappen pointedly refused to move aside for Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz and this year his defensive driving tangles with Ferrari's veteran drivers has become an intriguing narrative in this year's season

And while Ricciardo looked like he'd eaten a raw prawn when Verstappen stood on the winner's step in his debut race with Red Bull at Barcelona, the Australian got the better deal a few weeks later at the German Grand Prix when Max "took one for the team" and seamlessly let Ricciardo sweep past on his way to a second place finish behind Lewis Hamilton in the dominating Mercedes.

The pair now live in the same building in Monaco, but Verstappen says there's not much time to hang out away from the track.

"Look the problem is that we are always travelling a lot and we are in a lot of meetings so I don't think we are in Monaco all the time at the same moment," he says diplomatically. "The funny thing is that we live in the same building so who knows."

And while Australians have taken great pleasure watching Ricciardo living the dream in Formula One as he cycles, dances, flies and enjoys road trips with his mates, Verstappen – to some eyes – has appeared a more distant figure.

At 18, and a kart-driver since he was four under the tutelage of his father Jos, the focus is, as it always has been, the need for speed. Even in his spare time.

"Well mainly they have to do with racing," he says of his pastimes off track.  "So when I go back home I do some go-karting and stuff, I go up to the water and do some jet-skiing. You know [I like] everything when it has an engine ...  I think I would stay in the racing spirit."

It is this focus, honed by the background of a Formula One father and a kart-driving mother that makes Verstappen's story so compelling, and perhaps inevitable.

No Formula One showreel is complete without the footage of his father's Benetton being engulfed in flames during a pitstop at the 1994 Grand Prix. That the Dutchman escaped with only minor burns was miraculous, that he went on to sire the new exciting face of the sport yet another reason to be thankful.

Did that legend loom large in the Verstappen household?

"Well he always talked about what he did in his career. You see a lot of movies and so on, incidents and that happened. Luckily also we don't have the refuelling anymore so that shouldn't happen again."

And while he has two parents involved in motor sport, there's no doubt that it is Jos who is the driving force that has shaped Max's career from the European kart circuit through to being the youngest ever Formula One winner.

"Well to be honest I still talk a lot with my dad of course and I still get advice from him because he has driven Formula One himself." Verstappen concedes.

"My mum on the other hand is a very nice support to have. Also when I was younger at home we were always talking about racing so that is of course very funny, and I think that also helped me a lot to improve and also become professional at a very young age.

The story of the meteoric rise of Verstappen the younger is still to be fully told, but with the F1 season now heading to circuits where podiums are likely for Red Bull his destiny is now firmly in his own hands.

His switch from Toro Rosso just ahead of the fifth Grand Prix of the year met with immediate success, but recent races have been tougher and there's been criticism of his aggressive driving style. The clashes with another cool customer in Kimi Raikkonen have been particular mesmerising, although Verstappen says there has been no need for a chat or any lingering tension.

"Not really, but as racing drivers we can easily set  things aside after something would happen," Verstappen says. "So everyone knows there is no issues.

"At the end of the day you always want to fight for your position. I think that is what a racing driver does.

"You always have to be confident and you have to believe in yourself but you can always improve in every aspect so it is always what I try to achieve, improvement, because you cannot sit still because everyone else is improving as well."

Given his rapid rise through the ranks is he racing against men he once considered heros?

"Actually not, I mean my only hero is my dad," he says emphatically.  "For the other people you  always have a lot of respect for what they achieved but I never really looked up to them."

So prepared to not be psyched out by potential opponents, Team Verstappen is inevitably no less demanding on the fitness front. Despite his relative youth, his physical preparation has  ensured a seamless transition to Formula One.

"Of course it is all about preparation, I have a good trainer, he prepares me very well. So luckily I've never really had issues with my fitness. It is better to be too fit so you don't feel any problems, because as soon as you start to have problems when you are driving you know you can't focus 100% on your driving. Maybe you know, saying like 'I tried to hold onto my neck because it was falling apart', so that's not good, but luckily I've never experienced those issues.

And even the potentially distracting switch of teams mid-season has been handled with aplomb, coming as it did out of the blue when Red Bull decided Daniil Kvyat was making too many mistakes.

"Definitely not this year [was it expected], of course you have future goals to achieve that but yeah of course happy with the chance that they have given me and I am very happy with where I am at the moment ...  it is never that easy to jump into a new team in the season but you know … it was very nice when I get here they gave me a lot of confidence.

"It is a great group to work with and that helps a lot and we trust them. We feel that the things that they says at the end of the day is right so at the end of the day they have won four world championships so that gives you a lot of confidence as well."

It helps of course that Red Bull has a car that is clearly closing the gap on Mercedes and Verstappen is a driver who will only get better.

"I think you can improve in every single aspect, so it is not that you have one single weakness or you you have something that is not very good. I think you have everything you know I would say let's say at the moment I would say  you have 97, 98 per cent  to get to 100 per cent that takes a while. Also to get experience, that will come."

And that, of course, is where a nation of Ricciardo fans find themselves – wondering about the nature of the racing machine that is Max.

So, ponder this sports fans. Asked if his West Coast Eagles supporting teammate had introduced him to the wonders of AFL, Verstappen offered this diplomatic answer: "No not too much, I mean often in my country it is not very popular but I mean I always enjoy watching it, it is a very beautiful sport."

What does Australia think of Max?

Maybe, like his thoughts on footy, we may not know him very well or be barracking enthusiastically, but it's always a wise move to offer the respect.