Hamilton and I could be friends again - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg has once again been discussing his relationship with Lewis Hamilton, and revealed he still has a huge amount of respect for his former team-mate and hopes that they can recapture the friendship they enjoyed before things between them soured.

As both men went all-out for the title in the 2016 season, tensions regularly boiled over and their once positive relationship eventually deteriorated completely.

It got so bad that at one stage Mercedes co-owner Niki Lauda remarked that the pair 'barely even spoke to one another' towards the end of the campaign, one in which Rosberg triumphed before announcing his retirement.

Hamilton claimed his crown back in 2017 and Rosberg is hopeful that there is enough water under the bridge that he can once again consider Lewis a friend.

Rosberg said: “We were really good friends back in the day and I still have a lot of respect for him and always will have.

“In private he’s a good guy, so of course, it’s always different the way you get perceived on camera and how you are in that big F1 world, but in private I can say he is a really good guy with some good values.

“So I hope maybe with time one day we can get back to getting on better.”