Rosberg tells Hamilton to keep title fight ‘clean’

Nico Rosberg

(GMM) Nico Rosberg has kicked off the Abu Dhabi championship showdown by telling teammate Lewis Hamilton to keep their fight clean.

A first or second place will guarantee the title for Hamilton, so Mercedes teammate Rosberg is hoping trouble strikes or a strong rival from another team is able to split the pair on the podium.

"I need to do what I can to try and put the pressure on," Rosberg said on Thursday.

"In Brazil Lewis made a mistake so there is a chance. I need to do what I can to keep going like that."

Relations between the pair have been frosty in 2014, and a new intensity seemed to have taken hold in Abu Dhabi as they shared a noticeably awkward staged handshake for the world's media.

Their relationship plumbed the depths in Monaco, where Hamilton accused Rosberg of faking a mistake to spoil his qualifying, and then at Spa where they clashed.

Told by one journalist that it hasn't been a 'totally clean fight' in 2014, Hamilton said in Abu Dhabi: "That's how it's been."

Asked if there is anything he can do to ensure Sunday's decisive race is at least clean, he added: "Don't think so."

When asked for his opinion on the matter, Rosberg hit back: "Lewis can do something to keep it clean which is to drive cleanly himself. So it's not like he can't do anything."