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Connor McDonagh
Nico Rosberg says Max Verstappen’s return to form at the Canadian Grand Prix was down to him channeling his anger in similar fashion to reigning champion Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen has endured a tough start to the season with several high-profile mistakes. The Dutchman began the weekend on the defensive saying he had no intentions of changing his approach to racing.
2016 Formula One champion Rosberg saw similarities between Verstappen and his former teammate Hamilton when reflecting on the Red Bull driver’s return to the podium in Montreal.
“Verstappen – epic weekend,” Rosberg said on his YouTube channel. “He showed a bit of Lewis Hamilton attitude to me this weekend.
“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 was first all the way through [practice], great qualifying, and finished third. I think that was a really good weekend from him.”
The German believed Hamilton’s lacklustre performance in Canada was down to a ”loss in motivation”.
“Lewis – he had one of those off-weekends totally,” Rosberg added. “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.”