Race winner Lewis Hamilton runner-up Nico Rosberg came to head in the press conference following the Chinese Grand Prix after Rosberg accused Hamilton of “unncessarily” slowing him down.
During the race, Hamilton backed off slightly to conserve his tyres, but that forced Rosberg to slow down. Not wanting to close up and wear his own tyres, it allowed Sebastian Vettel in third to close the gap.
Rosberg accused his team-mate of “thinking only about himself” during the race and almost costing him second.
“It’s now interesting to hear from you Lewis that you were just thinking about yourself with the pace at the front,” he said whilst sat alongside Hamilton.
“Unnecessarily, that was compromising my race, because driving slower than was maybe necessary at the beginning of stints meant Sebastian was very close to me.
“That opened up the opportunity for Sebastian to try that early pitstop to try and jump me, and then I had to cover him.
“So I’m unhappy about that,” he added.
Hamilton however was unapologetic and responded by urging Rosberg to try and overtake if he thinks he’s driving too slowly.
“It’s not my job to look after Nico’s race,” he countered. “My job is to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and fast as possible.
“I didn’t do anything intentionally to slow any of the cars up. I just focused on myself.
“If Nico wanted to get by he could try, but he didn’t.”
