Sebastian Vettel understands why Nico Rosberg was upset with Lewis Hamilton's driving in China but says any feud between the Mercedes drivers is "irrelevant" to Ferrari.

Rosberg finished second behind Hamilton in China but said the world champion had compromised his race by driving slowly in the middle stint, which backed him into Vettel. In the end the Mercedes drivers still completed a one-two ahead of Vettel but Hamilton's conservative driving made the result harder than it needed to be.

Sebastian Vettel to win the Bahrain Grand Prix, at 8/1 with bet365* For full odds visit www.bet365.com >> * All odds correct at time of publishing.

When asked about Rosberg's complaint, Vettel replied: "I don't know what Lewis did, whether he had more pace in hand or not. Lewis probably knows best. I think I understood Nico's complaint. In the end if you always go early [to attack], and I did the same thing, but even more aggressive trying to put him under pressure, then you always need to survive at the end of the stint because your tyres are a bit older."

Though a rift between the Mercedes drivers could benefit Ferrari if the pair came together, as they did in Belgium last year, Vettel is not expecting the situation to escalate further.

"In general, I'm not a politician so I'm not interested in feeding you on that front, I never have been. It was obviously a comfortable position for me because I wasn't involved in the press conference [verbal exchange between Hamilton and Rosberg] after the race. But both of them are professional enough to handle the situation, even though I can see it is very interesting for you to keep pushing them. For us, it is irrelevant. We need to look after ourselves, and if they are in trouble with each other and take each other out, everyone benefits, not just us, so it would be welcome. But equally we are not expecting that. As I've said, they are professionals and they know what they are doing."

The temperatures will be even cooler in Bahrain than China due to the evening start time and Vettel has his focus firmly on consolidating second in the pecking order behind Mercedes once again.

"The only problem is the sun goes before we start racing, otherwise it would be significantly hotter. I don't expect it to be that hot. Obviously Malaysia was extreme, but Malaysia is always extreme. For here I expect to be in a good position. So far this year, no matter the conditions, the ambient temperature, track temperature, I've always felt comfortable in the car.

"It seems to work in all sorts of conditions - dry or wet, hot or cold - so we should be in reasonable shape. We still need to confirm, it's still early, so that's the most important thing, that we are right behind Mercedes, and ideally a little bit closer every time."