Lewis Hamilton ‘games’ against Max Verstappen explained by Nico Rosberg after Horner jibe

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen analysed by Coulthard

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Lewis Hamilton’s former team-mate Nico Rosberg has agreed with Red Bull boss Christian Horner following claims surrounding Mercedes’ media antics. Horner believes Mercedes and Hamilton have been creating a narrative in the paddock, claiming that they are applying pressure on the Formula One stewards to penalise Max Verstappen during their fierce title flight.

Hamilton and Verstappen head into the final race of the season neck-and-neck on points in a winner-takes-all drive to the line on Sunday.

The last time we saw the championship go down to the wire was in 2016 when Hamilton was battling Rosberg at Mercedes, and the German was all too aware then of the games being played by his former team-mate.

When asked if Hamilton is using the media to ramp up the pressure on Verstappen, Rosberg told Sky Sports F1: “Of course, the media game is something you have to play if you want to win a world championship.

“It’s always like that in F1 and in sports, it’s a very, very important ingredient because the media has such power, even internally in the team.

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“I get to the engineering meeting, and Autosport.com is on, and the engineers are reading the headlines, and so it reaches everybody, It’s so powerful.

“And Lewis is very, very good at that. He’s really good at that.

“And his latest strategy has been to stay out of things, to stay very low profile, and just let the tension and the pressure build on Max’s shoulders.

“And that has worked very well as well because the pressure on Max has been just incredibly high.”

Hamilton and Verstappen have clashed on numerous occasions this season including the British and Italian Grand Prix, and most recently in Saudi Arabia, where the Dutchman was hit with two time penalties.

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Hamilton slammed into the back of the Red Bull in Jeddah after Verstappen braked hard after being told to give back the lead to his main title rival.

Hamilton was heard calling him “f****** crazy” over the team radio, claiming the Dutchman “brake tested” him.

But the Red Bull boss dismissed any suggestion Verstappen has driven irresponsibly, adding it was just part of a narrative created by their main title rivals.

Horner told the Daily Mail: “Of course it’s been a concerted campaign by Mercedes. Totally. It’s been part of a narrative to put as much pressure on the stewards to act differently from any other race.

“This is a campaign that’s been driven covertly to put the spotlight on Max, give him a tagline, portray him as this mad, irresponsible driver, put as much pressure as you can on him, on the team, and ultimately on the governing body.

“We saw in Brazil, the comments about the penalties being laughable, or Lewis being persecuted.

“Mercedes have got one of the smartest media arms in the paddock and they use every tool they can.”

The final race of the 2021 season gets underway at 1pm GMT on Sunday on Channel 4 alongside its usual home of Sky Sports F1, with the normal coverage on BBC 5 Live in the UK.

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