BERLIN, Germany - Mercedes has ruled out foul play and confirmed that Nico Rosberg's retirement from the September 21 2014 Singapore Grand Prix was caused by contamination of his car's steering-column electronics.
Rosberg's Mercedes limped out with electrical failure, with British team mate Lewis Hamilton going on to win and move three points clear of the German in their bitter rivalry for the Drivers' title.
'FRESH PARTS NEXT RACE'
Explaining what went wrong, Mercedes tweeted: "Forensic analysis has revealed that the steering-column electronic circuits were contaminated with a foreign substance. The contamination was not visible and did not manifest itself until Sunday (Sept 21) as Nico went to the grid. The result was an intermittent short-circuit in the electronic circuits meaning he could not command clutch or engine settings.
"Fresh parts will be used at forthcoming races. Our hard work on reliability processes will continue at the same intensive level.
"To clarify, the contaminant was a substance used in normal pre-event servicing of the component. #NotAConspiracy :)"
The next race of the 2014 season will be the Japanese GP on October 5.