Max Verstappen hits back at Nico Rosberg with brutal swipe ahead of Italian Grand Prix
Max Verstappen has had some words for Nico Rosberg after the former F1 world champion criticised him for his performance in Belgium.
Max Verstappen has hit out at Nico Rosberg after the Red Bull driver was criticised for colliding with Kimi Raikkonen in Belgium.
The Dutch driver ended up in the barriers and out of the race in just the second corner of the race.
And Rosberg criticised Verstappen in the aftermath.
But ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, the 21-year-old has hit out at the 2016 F1 world champion.
“I don't really care what [Rosberg] says in his podcast,” Verstappen told Dutch media.
“I think he is the new Jacques Villeneuve.
“Villeneuve has changed quite a bit, but it seems that Rosberg now and again wants to give a contrary opinion.
“But I really don't care what he says on his channels anyway. He does it very often.
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“At the beginning of this year he even called me a narcissist. That is very extreme.”
Rosberg has criticised Verstappen after his Belgian Grand Prix performance.
He had said: “Back to his old self a little bit, too aggressive.
“Then I don't understand how he stays flat-out even when the car is broken and then shunts it... He just has balls of steel.
“That didn't make a lot of sense though, so that was not good from Verstappen.”
Verstappen will hope to compete at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.
The Red Bull driver will start near to the back of the field though after taking an engine penalty for excessive usage.
Lights out in Monza is at 2.10pm tomorrow with qualifying taking place at 2pm today.