Max Verstappen believes Nico Rosberg is only trying to seek attention by making controversial comments on his YouTube channel.
After the Dutchman ended a year-long points streak by colliding with Kimi Raikkonen at the start of the Belgian GP, the 2016 Formula 1 champion claimed he was “back to his old self” making careless errors.
But when asked about those comments in Monza on Thursday, Verstappen was quick to put Rosberg in his place.
“I am not very interested in what he says on his channels,” the Red Bull driver stated.
“I think he is the new Jacques Villeneuve. He [Villeneuve] has come around, but now it looks like it’s Rosberg who constantly wants to share a controversial opinion.
“Maybe he wants to attract viewers or something? He does it very often. At the beginning of this year, he called me a narcissist. That is very extreme.
“Maybe he wants to earn money with his YouTube channel. If he had driven on longer, he could have earned much more.”
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The initiating factor which led to Verstappen and Raikkonen colliding was another poor start by Max which cost him two places on the approach to La Source.
This isn’t the first time either as slow launches has cost him several positions this season but the 21-year-old reveals Honda is struggling to find a fix.
“We know what the problem is, but it’s really hard to solve,” Verstappen said. “As soon as I release the clutch, that bit afterwards, we seemed to struggle a bit.
“Now, if I have a good start, I keep my position, and if I have a bad start I lose one or two positions.
“That is the tricky bit, whereas last year if you had a little minor issue, it would still be fine because we still had the traction coming off.
“Somehow this year when I release the clutch we immediately sometimes get too much wheelspin. The tyres being cooler, maybe they play a part in that.
“Of course it’s not an excuse but still I think we can do better and hopefully with the new engine, it will be better.”