Lewis Hamilton did exactly what I would have done, claims Max Verstappen

But the Brit was on pole and looking to grab his fourth straight win, while also hoping the German might miss the podium, which would allow him to claim the title for the third year in a row.

“Right now, I’m losing the world championship so I’m not bothered if I’m going to lose the race”, replied Hamilton, who crossed the line 0.4 seconds ahead of Rosberg with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third a further 0.4 behind.

Rosberg didn’t directly criticize Hamilton’s tactics, saying he understood that it was the British driver’s best chance.

Rosberg won the first four races this year to show Hamilton that he meant business.

Notably, the three-time world champion’s contract with his German constructors ends in 2018.

“A big congratulations to Nico of course, a great drive to secure his first world championship”.

“The one half of me says 1500 people in the team and 300,000 in Daimler respect those values”. My mum on the private side and my dad for my career steps.

Rosberg needed to overtake Verstappen to get closer to Hamilton, but his team told him not to take any risks.

“Lewis looked like he was hanging back waiting for him so the fact that Max was able to get to lap 21 on the super-soft tyre, from that point it looked like a one-stop was the plan”.

Rosberg appeared to be fighting against emotional collapse throughout the press conference. It was so intense in the auto – I’ve never felt something like that before in the vehicle. “I wouldn’t have expected him to do anything different”. “It was so intense. It was really intense and tough out there”.

Will Rosberg and Hamilton become best of friends, again?

Wolff said: “It’s very simple: anarchy does not work in any team and in any company”. “Lewis was using all his skill to do it perfectly so there was no way for me to get by”. I don’t think Nico knew exactly where I was, but he knew that I was in Dubai. “There was no way, he did it in a flawless way”. Lewis Hamilton insists he did nothing wrong during the closing laps in yesterday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when he slowed the pace to make life hard for title-rival Nico Rosberg.

“It’s insane. It was so intense the race so I think it’s going to take some time to settle and come out because it was really intense out there and so tough”, added the 31-year-old. “And then I went and won the next seven races”.

“I couldn’t get close enough, he has the same auto as me. He is a very worthy world champion, but it was naive to think that there would be any different approach to this race with what is at stake”.

“Obviously you can’t win them all”.

“This is 180 degrees and I am not sure yet where the needle is going to go”.