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I read some articles about the lack of friendship between Vergne & Ricciardo. Or rather, the loss of friendship.
Meanwhile, Lewis & Fernando are showing more friendly about the another and Lewis himself was been called Nico´s friend in the past, just like Fernando & Mark did.
Could be that drivers age have a role in all this or maybe all is about image and politic?
Well, I don´t know it, but if you think a moment the scene is posible that all of us got in some time a similar trouble. That is, in your working enviroment, usually grows some friendly relations, but sooner or latter, a friend becomes a rival. What do you do then?
Strange or not, reminding past i concluded that the best seasons, with the best races were made by two drivers that hated mutually (and fiercely).
I think that existence of a personal enemy give the driver a plus of aggressivenes, madness, hormones or some trick, i don´t know, but the visible effect is that becomes a faster one.
The corollary is: No matter what they say, there aren´t friends in competitivess world. And by the good of the show, this is the way that must be.

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A man is measured by the size of its rivals.

Oh my! Testosterone filled aggression - I like it! - but generally better on the rugby pitch or the boxing ring; not really suited to car driving?
FWIW, I don't think the 'friend' aspect is so important 'on the track' as compared to 'off track' - and all the drivers MUST have some respect for each other? - why else would you trust another guy at 200mph down a long straight with feck all room for error, or charging into the 1st corner 3 abreast? Competitiveness amongst these guys should be a given - respect amongst the drivers has to be earned - hence, I believe that Ferd and LH are genuinely respectful of each other - in direct comparison say, to Massa and LH (where I personally think Massa still regrets his loss and lets the red mist descend when tussling with LH!)

You can't generalize. It depends on the driver. Lots of drivers over time have been friends off track and fierce competitors on track - GV was quite famed for it.

Like all sports, I would imagine that there are some drivers that cannot deal with the dichotomy of being friendly off track and unfriendly on track and so elect to be largely unfriendly to feed their competitiveness. But not all drivers fall into that category.

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I think that even though there are obvious frustrations between certain drivers at times, I would expect most of them to be friendly off the track. It also seems to be in a drivers mentality not to hold grudges, look at schumi and DC, Schumi and Hill, Prost and Senna or even Massa and Hamilton in 2010 - all have disliked the other, but all have showed admiration and respect to the other after the rivalries too place. I think a lot of the on track rivalries in the past 10 years have been dreamed up by the press (or maybe Bernie) and handed to us on a plate for a better show, not too dissimilar to pro wrestling, albeit without the results being know before the start (I hope!). It's then up to the drivers to hopefully say what the media wants to hear to keep the story rolling.

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There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

If you are fighting someone for the same resources it is not the same as heading your team against their team paid from different piles.

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I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.

Marx (Groucho)

Hamilton/Alonso is easy.

2007 - team mates. "I want to be top dog"

2012/13 - Someone else is getting the best toys. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

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Me Like - Button, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg
Over rated, over paid - Räikkönen, Alonso, Vettel. Schumacher
Disappointing - Massa, Kobayashi
I may be wrong about - Alonso

Lewis and Nico were in karting together growing up so they're bound to be mates. The Alonso/Lewis thing I think is more out of growing respect, and if they're blowing each others trumpets, so to speak, then both are benefiting and looking better than their competitors.

Back in the 'good old days', when deaths were common, the bond between many of the drivers was incredibly strong. This was just a couple of decades after the war, and they were comparable to fighter pilots. Of course they were competitive, but they all knew that each time they stepped into the car could be their last so the sense of camaraderie was much greater than it is now. They traveled together, stayed in the same hotels, went to the same parties and were generally good friends. When you're living and dying together you tend to stick pretty close.

These days they all have separate motorhomes, separate lives and of course the world is so much more connected that there's nothing like the same sense of isolation when they're traveling. Some would be friends, but they wouldn't spend nearly as much time together (unless they're teammates) so I doubt the bonds are as strong as they once were.

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+1. I have seen many interviews, not official F1 ones, that have been enlightening about how certain drivers/ex drivers think about each other. According to some here, Prost totally hated Senna, Hill totally hates Schumacher, Fisichella totally hates Alonso etc. Not so according to interviews I have watched. These people are/were at the top of their respective sport which means, on track, they don't give/gave each other leeway, which you would expect from anyone that is that competitive. Doesn't mean that outside that competitive field, they don't genuinely like each other. After all, people keep on going on about Alonso supposedly getting rid of Fisi at Renault, yet, after all that, Alonso & Fishi, along with Robert Kubica & others, played cards together all the time. Just saying, as much as we, the fans, think we know certain things, we don't really

To be fair...I don't think Hill was Schumacher's biggest fan...

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When two young drivers on good terms in a team are informed that based on results, one will be fired (and probably slip away to oblivion) and the other will continue in Formula One with the prospect of eventually driving a Red Bull car to a World Driver's Championship, it's no surprise tensions can escalate, and friendships disappear.