Rosberg calls ex-Mercedes rival Hamilton "soft" after Verstappen overtake
Nico Rosberg has blasted his old Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for being “soft” in his battle with Max Verstappen in Sunday’s French Grand Prix.
Verstappen fought back from losing the race lead at the first corner of the first lap to take a brilliant win at the Paul Ricard Circuit and extend his championship lead to 12 points.
Hamilton fell victim to two strategic errors by his Mercedes team, which first saw Verstappen recover his lead in the first pit stops before being kept out when the Dutchman pitted again.
That put the Red Bull driver on much fresher tyres and he was able to pass Hamilton with two laps to go to secure his second victory in three races.
Verstappen was brought in for his second stop on lap 32, coming out nearly 20 seconds behind his title rival.
But easily caught back up with Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, taking the lead with just a lap and a half to go.
Rosberg though, who spent four years as Hamilton’s team-mate, felt that the Englishman could have fought harder to maintain his lead in the closing stages.
“Unusual from Lewis. Close the damn door! No?” the German told Sky Sports F1.
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“He usually looks like the best one-to-one racer and I'm surprised that he didn't at least try by braking late and if possible keep Max on the outside, so it was a bit soft there from Lewis.
“It's such a boost that Red Bull are really becoming the dominant force more and more, which is putting so much pressure on Mercedes.
“We are seeing that Mercedes are making mistake after mistake. So they need to be careful, and to keep it together from now on to have a chance.”
Hamilton fired back at Rosberg’s analysis though, insisting that Verstappen’s pace would have seen him lose the lead later in the lap anyway.
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“Firstly, there are marbles on the inside of the track so I didn't want to make my tyres worse than they were,” he said.
“Max would have passed me on the straight afterwards so it would have made zero difference.
“You saw what happened to Valtteri (Bottas) – he went straight on (under pressure from Verstappen), so there was no point messing the tyres up.”
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