Rosberg advises Vasseur to prevent 'spiralling' Ferrari conflict

2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg has offered advice to Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur, after his two drivers battled late for the podium in the Italian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz was left defending from Charles Leclerc in the final laps of the race, after Vasseur gave the go-ahead for the pair to fight for third place, without taking any risks.

There was a near-miss on the final lap when Leclerc dived to the inside, then quickly switched to the outside at Sainz braked in the middle of the track. This caused Leclerc to lock up and nearly hit him at the Rettifilo chicane.

Rosberg thought it was close when discussing the battle on the Sky Sports F1 podcast: "For us it was great, but it was so close to crashing," the 23-time Grand Prix winner said.

"Especially after the last one with a very big lockup from Charles - that is so close to crashing."

Rosberg makes suggestion to Vasseur

Having experienced high tensions when Lewis Hamilton was his teammate at Mercedes between the 2013 and 2016 seasons, Rosberg offered some advice to his former team boss from his days in F1 feeder series.

"I was telling Fred Vasseur after the race that I really highly recommend that he asks both drivers to sit down with him and that it's not the team manager or something, because he has the most authority," said Rosberg.

"Perhaps even first with one, then with the other, and then combined, because then you really get the open story from one and the other because it's so important to be proactive.

"Otherwise if one driver or the other, in this case it will mostly be Charles, has a bad feeling here, it can quickly spiral. Then at the next race he will think: 'Hey, I'm not going to yield next time' or 'I'm going to do the same next time and get payback.'

"He definitely has to practically manage that and try and be supportive and neutral. He said he was going to do that, so would be nice to be in that room, but it is not possible."