Rosberg doesn't hold back: 'Hamilton plays big role in bad result'

Nico Rosberg doesn't mince words in saying that his former teammate Lewis Hamilton did a bad job in Imola. The German compares the Brit to his younger teammate and notes the tension with team boss Toto Wolff.

Rosberg knows better than anyone what it's like behind the scenes at Mercedes. The German won the world championship in 2016 when he drove at the team and fought against Hamilton for the title. Rosberg assesses his former rival and analyzes the current state of affairs within the team after Hamilton's disastrous weekend.

Hamilton fell short himself

The seven-time world champion finished fourteenth and was stuck behind Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri for almost half the race, who in turn was stuck behind Alexander Albon's Williams. His teammate George Russell, who note has transferred from Williams this year, managed to keep Valtteri Bottas behind him at the end of the race and grabbed P4. At Sky Sports, Rosberg shares his analysis:

"He was in P4, in the same car. Lewis definitely played a big part in the poor result this weekend. Russell got P4 after a brilliant weekend, so there was just more in that car. Toto is therefore obviously trying to lift him up again." Rosberg is referring to Wolff's statements apologizing to Hamilton for the bad car. The German only thinks that Wolff has a double motive for those excuses: "It is so important that Lewis keeps that motivation throughout the season. That's important for the whole team. It's quite easy for him to lose that now in this situation."