Nico Rosberg has urged Max Verstappen to take advantage of Lewis Hamilton's 'weak phases' if he wants to win the Formula 1 world championship this season.

Rosberg remains the last person to have beaten Hamilton in a championship battle with him taking the crown in 2016.

Indeed, Lewis has largely had it all his own way in the years since with him winning four straight titles with the Mercedes team but, this season, he is back up against it with Red Bull and Max Verstappen really charging hard.

Certainly, Verstappen is looking pretty strong right now with 19 points being the lead he has over Lewis in the Drivers' standings and, if he wants to convert that into a maiden crown in the final four races, Rosberg has urged him to jump on any 'weak phases' the Mercedes man shows:

“You have to take advantage of Lewis’ weak phases,” he told f1-insider.com.

“When he loses his motivation and his head. Then it’s full attack!

“In other words, you have to get the maximum number of points possible, because you should never write Lewis off. He always comes back.”

Hamilton, of course, will be looking to show no such weaknesses as we head into the final weeks of the season, particularly with him needing to claw back the deficit that has built up in the Drivers' standings of late.