“If you do take that decision then do it properly” – Rosberg slams Mercedes late-race strategy

Nico Rosberg has questioned Mercedes’ strategy at the Dutch Grand Prix after the team lost the win to Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were in the fight for victory at the Dutch Grand Prix with a smart strategy that saw the team use hard tyres while other cars were forced on to a two-stop strategy.

However, after a late-race safety car, the team opted to pit George Russell on to new soft tyres while Hamilton stayed out on medium tyres, leaving him vulnerable to Verstappen behind.

2016 world champion Rosberg, who partnered Hamilton at Mercedes between 2013 and 2o16, believes that Mercedes made the mistake in pitting Russell for soft tyres.

The German told Sky Sports F1:

“You have to leave that wingman there, George, right behind. That’s going to increase the chance so much for Lewis to go and get that win and holding back Max.

“The way they did it now was taking a risk that was never really going to work because Max was just way too quick.

“They made that decision with Lewis, let’s take a risk, leave him out to go for the win and if you do make that decision, George is definitely not going to win by pitting anyway, so if you do take that decision then do it properly.

“Leave George out there as well to block Max and to give Lewis an even better chance to win by quite some margin. That’s the thing that I think went a bit wrong.”

Ultimately Verstappen used his tyre advantage to quickly re-pass the seven-time champion for the lead, while Hamilton tumbled off the podium to fourth, leaving him seething over team radio: