Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has defended his decision to enforce team orders during the Malaysian Grand Prix, but admits that it goes against his nature.

The 58-year-old ordered Nico Rosberg to back off Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages at Sepang in a bid to get both cars over the line in third and fourth.

"I don't like having to say those decisions," Brawn told Sky Sports News. "But from a technical perspective, we would have looked extremely foolish if we'd run both cars out of fuel.

"I think what wasn't fully appreciated at the time was that we had a situation developed on both cars with fuel, and we weren't comfortable with either car. I could just see a scenario with both drivers competing against each other in a strong way.

"As I've said, I didn't like having to give the orders I gave in Malaysia, it's not in my sporting nature. I think we've displayed in the past that we're very happy to let our drivers race each other."

The race was dominated by the decision taken by Sebastian Vettel to ignore team orders and overtake Red Bull teammate Mark Webber.