Max being a 4 time world champion made it normal to have rivals. It was normal for racers to have rivals, that was how the sport worked - even your own teammate was a rival at certain level.

Max would class you his rival. He definitely enjoyed racing against you, you could push back without getting you both injured. The fans enjoyed you both racing too.

Though at some point you two got close, may even say too close. You constantly hung around eachother at events and then occasionally outside of events. Slowly but surely you were both seen hanging out more than rivals should.