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Rosberg: Hamilton fallout behind us after 'intense' talks

13 Apr 2015

Nico Rosberg says he, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have moved on from their disagreement over Sunday's 2015 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Rosberg was unhappy with Hamilton's driving in the immediate aftermath of the race, with the German feeling his chances had been compromised by Hamilton backing him into the clutches of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel during the middle stages of the race.

However, after sitting down for a full debrief of the race, Rosberg says the issue is now behind them.

"It was definitely intense after the race, but we had a very good sit down, a good discussion," he commented.

"There was a lot of constructive criticism and now for everybody it is a thing of the past and we're moving onto Bahrain."

Rosberg said that his race frustrations stemmed from trying to save his tyres for a late assault on Hamilton, but admitted they were ultimately caused by losing out to the Briton for pole position by just four-hundredths of a second.

"I did try to attack him in the first stint and it just didn't work: all I did was destroy my tyres," he said of his race plan. "So in the second stint there was no point to try and do that again because there was Vettel behind and it would have really risked my second place had I tried, because I would have destroyed the tyres again and Vettel could have had a really good shot at overtaking me. 

"My only chance to win the race anyway, or to fight Lewis and try and overtake him, would have come at the end of the race and so that is what I was building up to.

"Without a doubt the worst part of the weekend was losing out to Lewis in qualifying. That compromised me most. And it was those four-hundredths. It's all down to me to be those five-hundredths quicker next time."

Sunday's Shanghai results means Rosberg is now third in the driver standings on 51 points, four behind Vettel and 17 adrift of leader Hamilton.