Nico Rosberg has accused Lewis Hamilton of driving too slowly at the Chinese Grand Prix, claiming that his race was "massively compromised" by his Mercedes teammate.
The current champion was saving his tyres midway through the race in Shanghai, allowing third-placed Sebastian Vettel to close the gap to Rosberg.
The German said at the post-race press conference: "He compromised my race massively at the time because the best possible race for Lewis was to back me off into Vettel so that Vettel would try to undercut me with an early pit stop.
"Then I would have to cover him and then I would have such a long stint at the end of the race that I would be without a chance. That was very frustrating that Lewis was taking at easy as that on the tyres at the beginning of the stint.
"Interestingly, he said he was just thinking about himself and that says it all. What upsets me is that my race was massively compromised and we went through that scenario before the race."
The result leaves Rosberg, who finished second behind the Briton, third in the drivers standings, behind Hamilton and Vettel.
Sian Cowper
