2016 world champion Nico Rosberg believes Max Verstappen showed a Lewis Hamilton-style attitude at the Canadian GP after securing a podium finish.
The Dutchman was in the spotlight in the build-up following another mistake in Monaco which greatly impacted his weekend and showed his frustration in front of the media on Thursday.
He would then go on to produce his best performance of the year so far with a flawless weekend and his second top-three finish in three races and Rosberg thinks he knows why.
“When Lewis is angry, he is at his best. He channels it into an unbelievable performance and I think Verstappen had some of that this weekend, so he gained this extra focus from the word go,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“He was first all the way through [practice], great qualifying, and finished third. I think that was a really good weekend from him.”
Before that praise, the Red Bull driver would insist nothing changed in terms of his approach to the race and that everything simply came together at the right time.
“I always want a good weekend, and of course I am always motivated to have a good weekend,” he told Sky Sports.
“So I think if I would do something different [it’s] because normally I’m not doing a good job because I am not on it, or 100 percent on it.
“Some drivers are like that. When they get a bit angry they can perform better. I’m normally not really an angry person. Maybe some other people have a different opinion.”
In contrast, Rosberg wasn’t particularly impressed by his former Mercedes teammate believing it was another weekend when Hamilton’s head wasn’t in the right place.
“Lewis – he had one of those off-weekends totally,” he stated. “Okay he had an engine thing in the race, but even so qualifying was still off. Typical for Lewis – these phases where he loses a bit of motivation when things don’t go well.”
