Hamilton defends speed while Rosberg seethes

Rosberg effectively accused Hamilton of selfishness in the post-race press conference at the Shanghai International Circuit after finishing second to the 30-year-old for the sixth time in the last 10 races.

Rosberg suggested Hamilton was at times slow, so potentially drawing him into the clutches of a chasing Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari.

At one stage the German took to the radio to inform the team that “Hamilton is driving very slowly. Tell him to speed up”.

It appeared a strange message as Rosberg was not close enough to pass. Asked about the message, Hamilton replied: “I wasn’t controlling his race, I was controlling my own race.

“My goal was to look after my car. I had no real threat from Nico throughout the whole race.”

The last remark, in particular, was a dig in the ribs for Rosberg who then responded in kind.

A clearly fuming Rosberg said: “It’s just now interesting to hear from you Lewis you were just thinking about yourself with the pace in front when that was compromising my race. Driving slower than was maybe necessary in the beginning of the stint meant Sebastian was close to me, and it opened up the opportunity for him to try an early pit stop to try and jump me and I had to cover him. It was unnecessarily close with Sebastian as a result, and also it cost me a lot of race time because I had to cover him.”

Asked to respond, Hamilton said: “It’s not my job to look after Nico’s race, it’s my job to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible.”

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fourth ahead of Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso 12th and Jenson Button 14th.

Button had finished 13th, but was handed a five-second post-race penalty for an accident with Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado that ended the Venezuelan’s race.

In his first race with Manor, after missing the first two due to issues, Will Stevens was 15th, finishing ahead of team-mate Roberto Merhi.