Nico Rosberg insists Mercedes gained no advantage during their 1,000km secret test with Pirelli, following news the team will face an investigation by the FIA’s International Tribunal.
Speaking about the test after the Canadian FOTA fan forum, he explained that Pirelli dictated to them what programme to run during the three-day test.
“It was a full on Pirelli test – they dictated what we do,” he told Sky Sports News.
“We have no say whatsoever – they say you are doing that, that, that and that and the engineers do that. They [Pirelli] have run our programme. So it is not for us to learn anything or to decide on anything that we do.”
With the scandal set to remain a hot topic with the International Tribunal stepping in, Rosberg insisted he wouldn’t be distracted by the events happening off the circuit.
“Not at all, the team is handling it and I am fully focussed on what I am doing, it has had no impact on me,” he said.
“I have not noticed anything different in the preparations. I know the team are working closely with the FIA to get through it quickly.”
OPINION
It’s incredibly unlikely that Mercedes gained no advantage from the tyre test. Whilst Pirelli have come out and confirmed the tyres used were for 2014, albeit a few runs were done on ‘tweaked’ 2013 tyres, any track running is of benefit with a current car.
Even if it were done on promotional tyres -which bare little in comparison to race tyres – they would still gain significant aero data from a test which covered equal distance to three grands prix.
