Lewis Hamilton roared to victory at the Chinese Grand Prix but sparked a furious blast from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg as their long-running feud reignited today.
The Briton made it two wins out of three races this year after the cars came home behind the safety car, with Rosberg second and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finishing in third.
Rosberg, who reacted angrily to his near-miss in qualifying by snapping at mechanics, at one point demanded over the radio that Hamilton speed up as Vettel closed in behind him.
"I wasn't controlling his race, I was controlling my own race," shrugged Hamilton, when asked about orders to pick up his pace. "I had no real threat from Nico through the whole race."
An infuriated Rosberg shot back: "It's interesting to hear from you, Lewis, that you were just thinking about yourself.
"Driving slower than was really necessary at the beginning of stints opened up the opportunity for Sebastian to try to jump me," added the German, still hopping mad.
"It compromised my race."
World champion Hamilton extended his record number of wins in China to four, but victory was overshadowed by his latest spat with Rosberg.
"It's not my job to look after Nico's race," insisted Hamilton, when offered the chance to respond to Rosberg's accusation.
"My job is to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible. And that's what I did."
The pair's rivalry boiled over last year when Rosberg drove into Hamilton in Belgium, and Mercedes will be anxious to avoid any further bad blood spilling over to next weekend's Bahrain race.
- 'Tell Lewis to speed up' -
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Vettel, who stunned dominant Mercedes to win in tropical Malaysia two weeks ago, failed to produce another upset as the Silver Arrows resumed normal service, but he held off team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to finish on the podium.
