Rosberg contamination ’not a conspiracy’ - Mercedes

Mercedes has revealed the cause of former championship leader Nico Rosberg’s steering wheel failure in Singapore.

The team said it carried out a "forensic analysis" of the problem after the recent night race and found that the steering column electronics had been "contaminated with a foreign substance".

"The contamination was not visible and did not manifest itself until Sunday as Nico went to the grid," Mercedes said on Twitter.

But in the context of the German’s bitter battle for the title with teammate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes’ announcement on Twitter immediately set tongues wagging.

"To clarify," the Brackley based team insisted, "the contaminant was a substance used in normal pre-event servicing of the component. Not a conspiracy!"