Nico Rosberg: Sebastian Vettel apologised for Malaysian GP clash

Rosberg was spun around at the first corner after being hit by Vettel, who was trying to pass Max Verstappen on the inside at the start.

While Vettel retired on the spot, Rosberg recovered to finish third, extending his championship lead in the process thanks to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton's engine failure while leading the race.

While Vettel said Rosberg was "without any blame" on Sunday, he initially stopped short of apologising for what he felt was a racing incident.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rosberg said: "Sebastian called me actually, he apologised, which is nice.

"It doesn't get me back the points that I lost, but it's still nice to hear that.

"My start was good, I was on the outside of Lewis and then I felt a massive hit on the rear which spun me round.

"I was sure that was it, I was sure the car was broken.

"I spin-turned as quickly as possible and got going again and really surprisingly the car was still OK."

Rosberg said he sympathised with Hamilton's plight, and he acknowledged that it meant he had extended his championship lead in unfortunate circumstances.

"Points wise it was a good day for me, even though not for the right reasons, because I want to get them on merit," he added.

"I can understand Lewis's situation because I've been there as well and it's horrible when you deserve to win a race and the technology lets you down.

"I'm sure he's really, really gutted, that's very understandable."

Rosberg leads Hamilton by 23 points in the championship with five races to go.