Pirelli has now issued a formal statement confirming the company’s belief that an external cut caused Nico Rosberg’s tyre failure in FP2.

Pirelli examined other tyres used on Friday, and also inspected the track in search for a possible cause of a cut. Its conclusions are as follows:

“There are no signs of structural integrity issue of the tyre, neither on other tyres used by Mercedes nor on tyres used on other vehicles.

“Video footage shows a tyre problem on Rosberg’s car which is consistent with an external cut into the tyre structure.

“Quality data check on other tyres has shown no anomalies.”

Meanwhile Paul Hembery added: “We have conducted a thorough investigation to find out exactly what happened with Nico’s tyre. This investigation now excludes any structural integrity issues. Based on the information and data available an external source of damage is the conclusion made.”