Nico Rosberg says that he expects the atmosphere behind the Mercedes doors to heat up after the events of the last race that was driven for the Dutch Grand Prix.
On a one-stop strategy to Max Verstappen’s two, Mercedes made Red Bull sweat over their strategy as the W13 showed good pace at Zandvoort.
Verstappen was given a reprieve when the virtual safety car was flagged as Yuki Tsunoda shut down his AlphaTauri at the edge of the track, and the Dutchman was able to make a second pit stop to stay ahead of the Mercedes drivers.
However, that was not the end of the story as Valtteri Bottas had to retire and his car stopped on the pit line, which meant the safety car came out on the track. Then the Mercedes found itself between two fires.
Verstappen entered the pits and put on a fresh set of soft tires. The Red Bull driver drops to third after that, while George Russell asked to also change tires and fit the same component as the Nozozemac.
Mercedes thought it was better to leave Lewis Hamilton on worn medium tires, something that was very strange because he was unable to maintain the leading position on them.
After the restart, Verstappen attacked the seven-time champion, whom he easily passed, and Hamilton’s teammate did the same, while the older Mercedes driver fell to 4th place.
The Briton was furious with the team, saying they had “fucked him up”, and Rosberg gave little credence to that claim.
“They decided to take a risk with Lewis, they left him on the track, they left him to have a chance to win,” the former Mercedes driver told .
“If you do that with George, he definitely wouldn’t win. This is clear because he lags behind Max. So if you’re going to take a risk to win, you have to do it right and also leave George to block Max and give Lewis an even better chance to win.”
“That’s what went a little wrong from my point of view.”
The German says he understands why Hamilton was so unhappy when he radioed in and clearly indicated his opinion on Mercedes’ strategy.
“First he gets overtaken and loses the win, and then his teammate flies by. It’s not a good feeling, trust me! It’s really embarrassing,” he pointed out.
“(A) for Lewis, one thing led to another. It was a really horrible experience for him. Of course you are incredibly frustrated on the radio. That is completely understandable.”
As a result, Hamilton’s former team-mate reckons he will warm up behind closed doors at Mercedes, perhaps even banging on the table.
“I guess they will warm up again behind closed doors. (Hamilton) will bang on the table a bit,” concluded Nico Rosberg.