Despite friction within the Mercedes team at the recent Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton says he and Nico Rosberg ‘remain friends… but friends who fucking hate each other.’

‘In any friendship, sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down,’ Hamilton continued. ‘But one thing that never changes is your total mistrust and dislike for each other. That’s what friendship is. It’s a sincere wish that the other person would just fuck off and die.’

Hamilton revealed that he and Rosberg had spoken after the Monaco race and that their relationship was now ‘totally amicable’. ‘I’m not clear what amicable actually means,’ the British driver confessed. ‘But I think it’s the same as “frosty and filled with a seething hatred” isn’t it?’

For his part, Rosberg was equally keen to stress that there was no problem between him and his team mate. ‘It’s all good with Lewis,’ he insisted this weekend. ‘I totally love the smug, stupid, shit-haired twat bastard wanker.’