Nico Rosberg accused Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton of selfishly compromising his race as old tensions between the Mercedes team-mates flared up at the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday.

Hamilton led from start to finish, with Rosberg finishing second, but there were more recriminations than celebrations afterwards.

After accusing Hamilton in a news conference of “just thinking about yourself” as he controlled the pace, Rosberg said his afternoon had been compromised by his team-mate driving too slowly.

“Did Lewis do it on purpose or not? I don’t know. I can’t answer that,” the German fumed to television reporters afterwards.

“But he said in the press conference he was just thinking about himself. That’s an interesting indication, an interesting statement.”

Hamilton shrugged off the criticism.

“It’s not my job to look after Nico’s race,” he said.

“My job’s to manage the car and bring the car home as healthy and as fast as possible – and that’s what I did.”

The spat revived memories of last year’s flashpoints between the two, particularly in Belgium and Monaco, when the team had to intervene.

Rosberg yesterday complained over the radio about Hamilton not going fast enough and said the Briton had left him vulnerable to being passed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who finished third.

Hamilton, who has beaten Rosberg in nine of their last 10 races, played down the risk.

“I’m not quite sure how I compromised his (race)... he was 4.4, 4.5 seconds behind so he was never close,” he said.