Verstappen dismisses Rosberg accusation

Max Verstappen has dismissed the pointed remarks made by former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in the wake of his Portuguese Grand Prix defeat to Lewis Hamilton.

Rosberg was full of praise for his former team-mate who chalked up the 97th win of his F1 career to open up an eight-point gap over Verstappen in the drivers' standings after three races.

Hamilton had to do it the hard way, making moves on both Verstappen and team-mate Valtteri Bottas to land another record previously held by Michael Schumacher.

The win led Rosberg to declare himself "a bit amused" by the fact "Max Verstappen is starting to understand better and better how good Lewis Hamilton is".

That drew a curt response from Verstappen when asked about Rosberg's remark. He said: "I don’t need Nico to make me realise how good Lewis is.

"I know he’s very good, otherwise, you don’t win so many championships."

After the three races, Hamilton and Verstappen have occupied the top-two places in each event, and so far seem inseparable.

Verstappen knows in such a tight race the balance could be tipped in one or the other's favour by any incident on any given weekend.

"It’s close," added Verstappen. "I wish it was closer! It’s a long season and we can’t afford to have any retirement or silly mistakes so we just have to keep on doing what we’re doing.

"I think it [the close battle] is what everyone wants to see but, of course, what I want as well.

"The last few years we have not been close enough so it’s a good start to the season, that’s for sure and I hope it can be like this for the rest of the season because it keeps everyone excited."

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