Hamilton 'over-managed' Hungarian GP, didn't delay Rosberg - Wolff

At last year's Chinese GP, Rosberg felt Hamilton hampered his race chances by unnecessarily backing him up into Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

At the Hungaroring, Hamilton again controlled the pace at the front, to such an extent he was warned over the radio to pick up his pace otherwise Rosberg would pit first at the second stop to ward off the challenge from Ricciardo.

Despite arguing he was driving to the best of his ability, Hamilton soon found pace, allowing Rosberg to also push and ensuring the duo finished one-two.

Wolff said: "I don't think he was backing him up at all. I'm sure he didn't want to back him up.

"The whole weekend we discussed with them the need to be very cautious on the tyres. When you hear the constant messaging 'the tyres might not last', you want to manage them.

"They managed them very well in the first stint on the super-softs, and then we bolted on the softs and we didn't have any experience on those tyres.

"He [Hamilton] over-managed it probably. He had everything under control, he knew Nico was behind and didn't realise the train was approaching fast.

"There was a different strategy behind him, so I guess he didn't have the complete picture. For him it looked OK, that's why he just took it easy.

"He was really cautious in looking after the tyres, and this is what he said."

Hamilton said his actions were not meant to hamper Rosberg.

"If I'd pushed harder at the beginning then maybe I wouldn't have got to the end the way I needed," he said.

"I was turning my engine up and down, managing it as much as I needed to.

"I wasn't backing Nico up. He was quick enough to close the gap if he really wanted to and challenge, but shortly after that [the radio message] I was able to pick up pace and still really go for it."

Rosberg felt Hamilton did drive "over-cautiously", but did not go as far as what unfolded in China.

"I was just fully focused forwards," said Rosberg.

"I'm happy the pace was slow because I was trying to put the pressure on him and trying to get some mistakes going from him.

"I did everything I could to force the mistakes, but there was not enough to get by."