Verstappen has to be more gracious in defeat, says Rosberg

Former world champion Nico Rosberg has taken a dig at Max Verstappen after the Dutchman’s impressive drive, which saw him climb from 15th on the grid to second place finish at the Jeddah International circuit.

However, a Safety car midway through the race bunched the pack up  gave the 25-year old a shot at the victory against his teammate Sergio Perez, which he failed to materialize. That may explain some of the grumpiness which could be read on Verstappen’s face in the post-race events.

“I recovered to second which is good and in general the whole feeling in the team is happy,” Verstappen said in a post-race interview.

“But personally I am not happy. I am not here to be second, especially when you are working very hard back at the factory to come here in a good state and making sure everything is spot on.”

The whole situation did not appeal to Rosberg, who was very skeptical about Verstappen’s behaviour.

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“It is not good to see,” Rosberg told Sky Sports.

“We were also told he skipped the team meeting on Saturday apparently.”

“I don’t think it’s a good approach or mentality so early in the season when the team has done such a brilliant job and worked so hard. I think he could be more gracious.”

With his win in Jeddah, Perez proved that he is fully motivated to challenge his more elusive teammate, who up until that point, considering the enormous car advantaged, was tipped to clinch his third consecutive title without breaking a sweat.