Lewis Hamilton dubbed 'strange' by Nico Rosberg ahead of F1 Italian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to win the F1 Italian Grand Prix on Sunday
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Nico Rosberg has called Lewis Hamilton 'strange' after the Brit took aim at Max Verstappen's team-mates.
Speaking earlier this week, the Mercedes star said he'd had to contend with tougher team-mates than his Red Bull rival.
"In my personal opinion, Valtteri [Bottas] and all of my team-mates have been stronger than the team-mates that Max has had," he said.
"Jenson [Button], Fernando [Alonso], George [Russell], Valtteri, Nico [Rosberg]. I’ve had so many.
Nico Rosberg was team-mates with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes
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"These guys have all been very, very strong, very consistent and Max has not raced against anyone like that."
Yet while Rosberg thinks Hamilton is correct with his statement, he feels it's 'strange' that the Brit opted to launch the attack on Verstappen.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s strange that Lewis does talk about that, like ‘my team-mates were better’.
"Where did that come from? [It’s] a bit strange.
"But I do think he has a point. I mean he had three world champions as team-mates. That says a lot, doesn’t it?
"So I do think it’s correct. Nevertheless, it’s not really that relevant because we all know how amazingly awesome Max is driving.
"Max is going very strongly towards that same level as Hamilton, [Michael] Schumacher, [Ayrton] Senna.
"He’s gonna be one of those closely almost top-five greats.”
Verstappen has since responded to Hamilton, with the Red Bull star expressing a belief that the Mercedes star might be 'jealous' of his success this year.
The Red Bull star has won 11 races from 13 so far this season, with team-mate Sergio Perez winning the other two.
Speaking ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen said: "Maybe he's a little jealous of my current success.
"This kind of statement... he possibly thinks he's winning something with that, but it makes no difference to me.
"I think Mercedes have a very hard time dealing with losing, after all these years of winning so much."
He added: "At some point, you have to be realistic and then you have to be able to appreciate what other teams are doing.
"We did the same when they were dominant and we also said, 'We have to work harder because we are not good enough'.
"You can keep shouting and screaming that what we do is not that special... you just have to deal with yourself."
Both Hamilton and Verstappen have won the Italian Grand Prix in the past.
The Brit has secured triumphs at Monza in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
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Max Verstappen feels Lewis Hamilton is 'jealous' of him ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix
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And Verstappen was victorious at the event last year.
The Italian GP is due to commence at 2pm on Sunday.
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