Head, who in the past witnessed on multiple occasions contentious or difficult relationships between star drivers at Williams, believes that the pairing, despite its intense rivalry, can remain in the same team.

“On the track they’ve had a clash but I don’t see it as a reason why they can’t drive in the same team going forward,” Patrick Head told Sky Sports.

“It would seem an overreaction for that to happen, but I think that going forward it really depends what happens. If Lewis goes out and wins the next four races in a row and closes the gap, then  Lewis will be happy and everything will be fine.

“Nico will have to be focusing on going out afterwards and winning. But that’s one of the good things about Formula 1, every race has equal points, equal importance unlike sportscar racing where Le Mans dominates above all the others in terms of prestige to win.

“They’ve got 16 or 17 races ahead of them, so they’ll be looking forward at that rather than looking back.

“Yes, it will be an annoyance and they’ve got to work out how they deal with it and avoid it in the future. I don’t it as a reason why they can’t be in the same team together.”

Looking back at the big, and often acrimonious, battles of the 80s and 90s at Williams between Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann, or Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, the chances of two star drivers and team mates falling out are always high given the stakes and respective egos.

“The only time I’ve come across good friends within the team is when one is clearly head and shoulders above the other, and the other accepts that the other one is better. But I don’t think any team wants that,” Head concluded.