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Lewis Hamilton has responded to criticism from former teammate Nico Rosberg after the French Grand Prix which saw the reigning Briton’s main rival, Max Verstappen, crowned the winner at Paul Ricard.
Verstappen recovered from an early mistake in the first lap after missing the second corner and allowed the seven-time world champion to pass him to take the lead.
But it was in lap 20 that racing history changed after Red Bull pitted Verstappen against a new set of new tires, a strategy Mercedes had not anticipated or covered, with Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas. sitting on older ducks. tires in the last part of the race.
Reappearing from the pit lane in fourth, Verstappen made his way through the field and staggered in Hamilton before finally overtaking the seven-time world champion to claim the victory.
After the race, Rosberg said, “Unusual of Lewis … I mean, shut that damn door, right?”
“Usually Lewis is the best head-to-head runner and I’m surprised Lewis hasn’t at least tried – try to brake late, keep him on the outside. A bit of a soft Lewis down there.
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Had Hamilton managed to hold on to his victory, he would have regained the lead in the league table with two points ahead of the Dutchman in his quest to become an eight-time world champion.
However, the Mercedes driver fired back at the German and reminded Rosberg how “pointless” it would have been to defend himself.
“First of all, there are marbles inside so I didn’t want my tires to be any worse than they already were,” Hamilton said as he explained his actions as Verstappen passed him for the head of the race.
“He had the DRS open so if he hadn’t passed me there he would’ve passed me down the straight afterwards so it wouldn’t have made any difference and I just didn’t have a front face. , so he would have gotten me anyway.
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