Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have quashed a claim made by Nico Rosberg following last Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
At Portimao, the seven-time world champion increased his lead to eight points over the Dutch driver as he recovered from a slow start with two strong overtakes to claim his second victory of the season.
And at a stage of the season where the perception is that Red Bull has a faster car than Mercedes, Rosberg thinks Hamilton’s success is providing a wake-up call for Verstappen.
“What a phenomenal race by Lewis,” the 2016 F1 champion told Sky Sports.
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“I’m a bit amused because Max Verstappen is starting to understand better and better how good Lewis Hamilton is.
“He needs to do everything perfect to beat him in the World Championship but at the moment it is 2-1 for Lewis.”
However, the Red Bull driver didn’t need long to dismiss the German’s comments.
“I don’t need Nico to make me realise how good Lewis is,” he said. “I know he’s very good, otherwise you don’t win so many championships.”
Adding his view, Hamilton agreed that all the drivers were fully aware of the ability possessed by their rivals.
“I think none of us here are under any illusion of just how hard it is out there for us, how close the battle is,” he claimed.
“We’re all giving absolutely everything in our day-to-day lives in order to be best prepared and deliver at the weekends.
“The pressure is immense between us all and I think there’s a huge amount of respect between the three of us and obviously with the other drivers here.
“Of course, it’s always great when you have a race like today where you’re able to follow and overtake and capitalise on the small margins and gaps that have but at the same time, look at the restart.
“Max had been pulling absolutely everything out of the Red Bull and given us a great run for our money so I think it’s going to be like this for the rest of the season, which I think can be incredibly exciting.”