Mercedes F1 champion accuses Max Verstappen of adopting LAZY habits

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Britain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Mercedes F1 champion accuses Verstappen of adopting LAZY habits

Max Verstappen endured a nightmare outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 25 July 2024 09:57 Updated: 11:21

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Former Mercedes driver and F1 champion Nico Rosberg has accused Max Verstappen of adopting lazy habits in recent races.

After a period of domination in F1, the three-time world champion has found himself being regularly challenged during the 2024 season.

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Seven different drivers have won a grand prix this year, with McLaren posing a regular threat as Red Bull’s rivals.

Oscar Piastri took the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix after racing three abreast during the opening lap, where Verstappen went wide and blamed Lando Norris for the incident.

Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Throughout the race Verstappen continued to deliver snappy team radio messages to his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, and was especially angry after a collision with Lewis Hamilton.

The night previous to the Hungarian GP, Verstappen had participated in ‘24 Hours of Spa’ on popular sim-racing game iRacing which reportedly kept him awake until 3am.

His late night antics have led to some speculating whether his tiredness impacted his performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Nico Rosberg compared his routine to Norris', accusing Verstappen of adopting ‘disappointing’ habits.

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“I spoke to Lando last night and I was impressed actually, because he has learned how to become a more professional athlete," the former Mercedes driver said.

“When he started in F1, especially against Daniel Ricciardo, he wasn’t really trying to be perfect as an athlete and yet now, this weekend for example last night his bedtime was 11:05pm, not 11pm, 11:05pm, wake up was 8:05am, breakfast was already set like what he was going to eat so hyper professional which was nice to know.

“At the same time in contrast, you had Verstappen who until 3am last night was sim racing and that’s a bit disappointing isn’t it. It just shows he’s too used to his ease of domination.”