Rosberg still hopes to renew 'good relationship' with Hamilton

Retired world champion Nico Rosberg remains hopeful that he and Lewis Hamilton can rebuild their relationship now that they are no longer competing against one another.

The pair were close friends while rising through the junior ranks, but their rivalry became increasingly acrimonious during their four years as Mercedes teammates; the latter three of which pitched them against each other in the championship fight.

Hamilton beat Rosberg to the crown in 2014 and '15 before the German's 2016 triumph, which was followed just five days later by the announcement of his retirement. Speaking to internationally-syndicated sports interview series "In Depth with Graham Bensinger," Rosberg said he and Hamilton spoke shortly before his retirement was announced in what he believes could be a first step toward a permanent thawing of their relationship.

"It was important for me to tell [Lewis] personally [about retirement], because of the battles we've had and everything," said Rosberg (pictured above visiting his former team during pre-season testing). "I just wrote him a message before the actual announcement, and then afterwards we got together and had a chat about it, and just went through stuff and it was a nice conversation. And I'm open to finding our way, and even having a good relationship again in the future. Why not?"

Despite the olive branch, Rosberg remains convinced that Hamilton was in the wrong from a team standpoint at the Abu Dhabi finale (pictured), where the Briton slowed down and tried to back Rosberg into traffic. Despite his disapproval though, he admits that Hamilton had his own title hopes to think of.

"It was not right, what [Lewis] did," Rosberg said. "In the end, we're driving according to certain guidelines that are given to us by the team. And I respected those guidelines, because in Monaco we had exactly a similar situation where I was second, he was third, and I was driving too slow – just as he was in Abu Dhabi. And so we were risking a good team result, so the team wanted me to let him past. And I just did straight away – let him past. And he got the race win, which helped him in the championship fight as well, ironically.

"And so it was the same situation in Abu Dhabi and he didn't abide by those rules, so from a team's perspective, that was not the right thing to do. But as an individual I can understand why he wanted to try something."