LEWIS HAMILTON has been accused of going “soft” in his title fight with Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull man opened up a 12 point lead in the championship with a thrilling win in the French Grand Prix as Mercedes again cracked under the pressure.
The attack came from Hamilton’s former rival and teammate, Nico Rosberg, who also delivered a damning verdict on Mercedes after they were caught out tactically by Verstappen’s two pitstops.
It allowed the Dutchman to breeze past Hamilton on the penultimate lap on fresher tyres, as the world champion was powerless to hold on to the lead.
Rosberg, however, felt Hamilton could have done more to defend, and said: “Unusual from Lewis. Close the damn door! No?
“Usually, Lewis is the best one-to-one racer and I am surprised he didn’t try. At least try. Brake late, try to keep him on the outside, so a bit soft from Lewis.”
Rosberg, who won the title in 2016 after beating Hamilton only to retire immediately, also accused him of feeling the strain after he took a pop at pundit Paul Di Resta.
On Saturday, Hamilton quipped that he disproved Di Resta’s “myth” after the Scot speculated over his chassis change with Valtteri Bottas.
Rosberg added: “You can see the pressure is on Mercedes. Lewis is even blaming Paul, so even he has got into his head!
“Red Bull are now really becoming the dominant force more and more, which is putting so much pressure on Mercedes and we’re seeing that Mercedes is making mistake after mistake.
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“So they need to be careful, and they need to keep it together from now on to have a chance.”
Rosberg’s words against his old employers could be dismissed as sour grapes but the fact is Mercedes cocked this one up.
Verstappen’s own error on the first lap gifted Hamilton the lead but Mercedes failed to respond on two key occasions to scupper his chances of a much-needed win.
First, they allowed Verstappen to regain his advantage by taking a lap too long to pit Hamilton for his tyres, as Verstappen benefitted from the undercut.
They then decided not to pit Hamilton a second time, keeping him on a one-stop strategy while Verstappen stopped for fresh rubber to hunt down and pass Bottas and Hamilton.
Mercedes’ chief strategist James Vowles apologised to Hamilton after the race saying “this one is on us”.
Hamilton was later quizzed about his “soft” defence and said he had no choice but also added he could have won had he made a second stop.
He said: “There were marbles on the inside so I did not want to make my tyres any worse than they already were.
“He had DRS open so if he didn’t pass me there, he would have passed me on the straight afterwards, so it was pointless to defend any harder.
“And if we had a two-stop, that could potentially have done the job but it was not the cards for us and we need to find out why.”
Meanwhile, Bottas, who finished fourth, was livid and accused Merc of ignoring his call for two pitstops.
He said: “Why the f*** did no one listen to me when I said it was going to be a two-stopper. F***!”
Verstappen’s win was the third successive victory for Red Bull and clearly shows the tide has turned in the fight.
Team boss Christian Horner had said before the race that if they could win in France for the first time, it would prove they could fight Merc for victories anywhere.
And with two home races coming up at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Verstappen is feeling confident.
He said: “As you could see, the whole race we were fighting each other. I think it will be like this for the rest of the season.”
Horner said it was payback for Verstappen after Merc pulled the two-stop strategy to perfection as Hamilton won the Spanish GP in May.
He added: “The strategy guys work the numbers to present the odds and you have to go for it.
“I did not want to be in the same situation as Barcelona and I am very proud of the team.
“It has been a great race, you can see how close it is between the two teams and it will be nip and tuck through this championship.”
