Max Verstappen has offered a blunt response to Nico Rosberg after his Lewis Hamilton comments

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has responded to Nico Rosberg's claims that the Dutchman is only realising now just how good Lewis Hamilton is, with the former Mercedes driver also finding errors in Verstappen's performance in Portugal.

Hamilton was ultimately a cut above on Sunday afternoon as he overtook both Verstappen and teammate Valtteri Bottas on the way to victory at the Portimao circuit, with the chasing pack having very little in the way of an answer for his performance.

Indeed, it has seen Hamilton extend his lead in the championship by a further seven points, but things remain tight and Verstappen will want to respond this weekend as we head to the Spanish Grand Prix.

For Rosberg, though, the Dutchman needs to cut out the minor mistakes he is making if he wants to win the title this year.

"Max had the faster car, which we also saw yesterday in qualifying. Max just made more mistakes. You can't afford that if you want to be world champion against Lewis.

"Everything has to be right, otherwise you don't stand a chance. They are small mistakes, but they add up. Max still has to find something and avoid these mistakes."

Rosberg also went on to suggest that Verstappen is finally seeing how good Hamilton is now that they are properly going wheel-to-wheel for race victories.

"I'm a bit amused because Max Verstappen is starting to understand better and better how good Lewis Hamilton is," he said to Sky Sports.

"He needs to do everything perfect to beat him in the championship and at the moment it's two-one to Lewis." 

Verstappen, though, took exception to Rosberg suggesting that he didn't know how good Lewis was with him commenting in his post-race press conference: "Yeah, 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."

One thing's for sure, Hamilton underlined just the level he is at on Sunday afternoon and a response will be needed from Verstappen this weekend coming as we head across the border from Portugal to Spain. 

Reference: Givemesport: George Dagless  2 days ago