Lewis Hamilton has said that the venom has gone out of his relationship with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

The reigning world champion said that even though they are battling once again for the drivers' title, and have had on-track run-ins in 2016, the old karting friends are actually getting along well.

"Really, really good," he told the Daily Mail of their current relationship. "Surprisingly."

He thinks that it has been a process of German Rosberg maturing through having a family, and himself "coming of age".

"[Now] we say straight up, 'Hey man, I wasn't cool with that'," he added.

"We are going to have our ups and downs and there are going to be times where we hate each other and when we like each other but ultimately, when we have all retired and got kids and stuff, the respect is always going to be there."

Rosberg leads Hamilton by 24 points in the driver rankings ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.