Nico Rosberg mocks Lewis Hamilton's 'beat by my team-mate face' after Saudi GP

20 March 2023 , 17:29

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Lewis Hamilton was annoyed at himself for choosing the wrong car setup in Jeddah (Image: Sky Sports)

Nico Rosberg couldn't resist sticking the boot in to Lewis Hamilton as he mocked his former Mercedes team-mate for being beaten by George Russell in Jeddah.

The Silver Arrows struggled for pace again at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, though they were at least more competitive than they were in Bahrain two weeks earlier. Russell finished fourth with Hamilton one place further back, beating both Ferraris.

Despite climbing a couple of places from where he started on the grid, Hamilton came across pretty glum as he spoke to the media after the race. Former world champion Rosberg thinks it was because he was annoyed at having been beaten by his team-mate.

"That was just the 'I got beat by my team-mate' face. That's pretty simple," he told Sky Sports when asked about it. And Rosberg will know better than most, having edged Hamilton to that 2016 title in their final season together at Mercedes.

He added: "George is the future world champion. This is a difficult one for Lewis to stay in front. We saw it last year, what an awesome season George did and George is continuing on that form once again.

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"It's going to be a big, big challenge, but let's not forget Lewis is the best of all time so if there's going to be someone who can beat George then it will be Lewis.

Nico Rosberg thinks Hamilton was annoyed because he had been beaten by George Russell (Sky Sports)

But he has no doubt that Hamilton will put up a fight: "It's a little bit of a weakness that Lewis has that sometimes hell mentally go into this down a little bit and lose a little bit of flow. But he comes back with a bang every single time so, dear George, don't get too comfortable!"

Explaining why he had been beaten by Russell, Hamilton said he had chosen the wrong car setup and had a cheeky dig at his team-mate in the process. He said: "We work on that. There was like a 50-50 choice. I chose one way and he chose another.

"More often than not, the way [Russell] went is the wrong one. But it just happened to work. So I could only match his pace than be quicker this weekend. But I'll work hard to make sure we are in a better place next time."

Daniel Moxon