The two talked on their arrival in Monaco on Wednesday ahead of Sunday's race and Hamilton said the incident was in the past.

"It's fine," said Hamilton. "In the past, there would have been tension but there was just pure respect.

"I said, 'I still have all the respect for you,' and he said the same."

Hamilton added: "It doesn't change anything about how we approach racing."

That is a change from the aftermath of previous incidents between the two, after which there has been lingering bad feeling.

Asked why it was different now, Hamilton said: "It is always good to discuss things. As a team we did, in Barcelona and then at the factory I guess individually, and then Nico and I spoke just now.

"But I didn't feel we had to, because there is no issue. we just move on, there is nothing you can do about the past."

He added: "We didn't talk through the incident. We don't need to. We know what happened. We experienced it. We know how we felt about it before.

"We are not like the more emotional beings on the planet who talk about things, we don't do that.

"We arrived very cool and chilled and spoke. All we need to know is the respect is still there and we are going to keep racing. And that's all we had to say.

"We have a long career left with racing with another. You have to assume there is going to be more but we are competitors and we're racing.

"There are going to be lots of close encounters and we are just going to try our best that affects our results. Every scenario is different. This is the one we are faced with now. We are getting past it in a positive manner."

In contrast, Rosberg refused to say whether he and Hamilton had discussed the incident and its aftermath.

"If we have spoken or not, that needs to be kept internal," he said. "But it is a thing of the past now.

"I am going to take the same approach as always and do what's necessary to try to win this grand prix, which is what I have come here to do."

Hamilton is 43 points behind Rosberg heading into the Monaco weekend after a difficult start to the season, and has not won a race since he clinched the title at the US Grand Prix last October.

He said: "If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, there will be many more opportunities. There are opportunities still there.

"There are still 16 races and you have to look at that. The glass, rather than it being half full is 10% full. And there is still the rest of that to fill up."

(BBC)