Mercedes boss Niki Lauda says he expects his drivers to be selfish during races and believes Lewis Hamilton did nothing wrong at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The tension between Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg was ratcheted up at the Chinese Grand Prix when Rosberg claimed Hamilton had compromised his race and put the team's one-two victory at risk. During the second stint, Rosberg felt Hamilton was going unnecessarily slowly in front of him in order to back him into Sebastian Vettel behind, giving the Ferrari driver a chance to pass him at the pitstops.

The lap times tend to back up Rosberg's theory but Hamilton responded by saying his team-mate should have tried to pass if he had a problem with his pace. Lauda, who is the team's non-executive chairman and tends to weigh in on disputes between the drivers, said he has no problem with Hamilton using every method possible to try to beat his team-mate.

"Sure, everyone drives selfish," he said. "What do you think these guys are here to do? I call them egocentric bastards. That is the only way to win and the only way to win the championship, they are all the same.

"Nico is the same as Lewis and Lewis is the same to Nico if the shit hits the fan. I fully agree that's the way it is and therefore we race."

Lauda said he felt Rosberg was trying to find a way to beat Hamilton but ultimately came up short.

"I think Nico tried hard all the way and you could see that in the lap times. He had Vettel in his back, which was a worry at some stage and he tried hard to catch up with Lewis and beat him, but in the end it did not work out.

"Lewis was better this weekend. On this weekend he was better and last year Lewis won the championship. There have been races where Nico won, so you have to be fair."

But Lauda does not see the spat escalating into a bigger problem for the team ahead of the next race in Bahrain.

"No, it's always the same. They fight each other, which is normal. There is no friendship out there. When you race you have to fight and when you are upset you make statements, but in the end they will all cool down and go to Bahrain and start all over again with the same fight."