“None of that surprises me because he has been very open about that all the time, criticising anybody who is not as out there in the world like Lewis is and his manner,” said Rosberg.

“The more you are out there, the better it is because you create more tension. That is obvious. He [Ecclestone] is the commercial rights holder, so what does he want? He wants a movement out there. And Lewis does a lot of that in his own way. I am a bit more reserved in that sense. So it is not something that surprises me. I understand his opinion, everybody does, it is pretty obvious. It is a straightforward thing but at the same time I care for the sport, I do think about it and I try to give a lot back to it in my own way.”

Arrivabene: take my pass away then

Rosberg and Vettel were not the only ones who came in for criticism from Ecclestone. When asked if Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene’s character was good, Ecclestone said: “Only for himself and not for Formula 1.”

Asked to respond to Ecclestone’s comments, Arrivabene said that if the sport’s commercial boss was so unhappy with him then he should remove his access to the paddock.

“I didn’t hear anything about this, so he can take my [F1 paddock] pass tomorrow morning,” said Arrivabene. If he doesn’t like that, then fine. What can I do? I am not going to change because he is asking me to change.”