Shades of Hamilton when Verstappen needs to deliver - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg believes Max Verstappen showed in Canada some of the character hallmarks displayed in the past by Lewis Hamilton, when the four-time world champion found himself under pressure to deliver.

Verstappen came in to the Canadian Grand Prix weekend after an agitated week of criticism following another big unforced error in Monaco that put him out of contention for a race win in the Principality.

The Dutchman's defiant mood in Montreal was clear for all to see at the outset, when he threatened to "butthead" anyone questioning his approach or ability to put together a flawless weekend.

• Calm and clean Verstappen says he hasn't changed his approach

That is however exactly what he did, putting himself at the top of the timesheets in free practice and delivering an impeccable performance on Sunday.

"Verstappen – epic weekend," said Rosberg in his Vlog posted on Youtube.

"He showed a bit of Lewis Hamilton attitude to me this weekend.

"When Lewis is angry, he is at his best. He channels it into an unbelievable performance and I think Verstappen had some of that this weekend, so he gained this extra focus from the word go.

"He was first all the way through [practice], great qualifying, and finished third. I think that was a really good weekend from him."

The 2016 world champion also offered his assessment on his former Mercedes team mate's performance.

"Lewis – he had one of those off-weekends totally," said the German.

"Okay he had an engine thing in the race, but even so qualifying was still off. Typical for Lewis - these phases where he loses a bit of motivation when things don't go well."

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