Nico Rosberg says he has sympathy for Lewis Hamilton after his team-mate's retirement from the lead at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was set to re-take the championship lead as he held a comfortable advantage over the two Red Bulls with 16 laps to go at Sepang when his power unit failed. With Rosberg - who had spun at Turn 1 after being hit by Sebastian Vettel - recovering to third place, the end result saw the German extend the gap at the top of the championship but he says he feels sorry for Hamilton.

"Sunday was not great for us, unfortunately," Rosberg said. "My race was almost over before it even began and I feel for Lewis, as I've been there myself and it sucks big time to have all those points taken away from you just like that.

"For the guys too, seeing all their hard work destroyed in a couple of moments must be pretty brutal - especially right at the end of such a physically demanding weekend. But you cannot underestimate how strong this team is. We'll hit back even harder."

While acknowledging the boost it gave to his title hopes, Rosberg says he is not going to let the championship picture change his approach in the closing races.

"Of course, the result in Malaysia went in my favour in the title battle. That's a fact and I cannot pretend otherwise. But I haven't been thinking about the points situation all season and I'm not going to start now. I'm here to win races and that's the aim every time.

"Suzuka is the next opportunity and I'd love to stand on top of the podium there. It's one of the truly great, classic race tracks, where all the legends have won, so it would be an honour to add my name to that list.

"I need to improve on my last performances there, where it hasn't ever really come together. But I think I've shown this season that I've learned a lot from the past two years, so I'm confident I can get on top of this challenge. Hopefully it will be a great weekend and a good close battle for those awesome Japanese fans."

Technical snapshot - Malaysia

Scene at the Malaysian Grand Prix

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix - Quotes of the week

Breakfast with... Gianni Morbidelli

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