Smith's "respectful hatred" for Espargaro will drive KTM forward

Smith, who has spent all four of his premier class seasons with Tech 3, was announced as KTM's first rider for 2017 in March.

Espargaro was recently named as Smith's partner at the Austrian manufacturer, and the Briton believes their competitive relationship will help KTM make swift progress.

"We have respect for each other after working together for three years," said Smith. "It's a respectful hatred.

"I wouldn't pick him up on the side of the road if he'd broke down. I'd just give him the middle finger and carry on, but I wouldn't put him in the ditch!

"There was a story at Suzuka [8 Hours] where we've been trying to outdo each other the whole time we were there, if it rained it was about who could to the fastest lap in the rain and the same in the dry.

"Then it got dark so we were told we can only do three laps so I went out I did my three laps, funnily enough Pol got traffic in two of his three laps so he stayed out for five until he went faster than my lap.

"It's just how we work and we keep it as a positive."

KTM picked two fastest non-factory riders

Smith also praised KTM's decision to pick Espargaro, due to the fact their similar riding style will help the team to take in the right direction.

"If I was a team manager, I would choose Pol, because you're basically taking the two fastest non-factory riders that are available at the moment," said Smith.

"We've ridden a Yamaha together for the last three years and pretty much put it on the same piece of tarmac week in, week out.

"When you actually build a chassis, you don't have to build one for one rider and one for another, so one bike goes like this and the other like that because they are working in parallel with each other, which can only lead to good success."

Tech 3 has "difficult" task

Satellite Yamaha team Tech 3 will take on the 2017 season with an all-new lineup and, despite having already signed Moto2 rider Jonas Folger, the team has been struggling to find a second rider.

Asked how he felt about the situation by Motorsport.com, Smith showed little sympathy towards his team's apparent issues.

"I got told in February I didn't have a job, so maybe if he [Herve Poncharal, Tech 3 team boss] had thought about this scenario six months ago, then things would be different," said Smith.

"But he didn't, and he put himself in this situation, and they need to find a way to do it. Replacing two of the fastest non-factory riders is going to be difficult, but it's their job to do so."

Additional reporting by Jamie Klein