Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has denied the idea that Mercedes influenced Pirelli's decision to bring a thinner tread for each compound of tyre to this year's Spanish Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows locked out the front row in Barcelona leaving the Ferrari's trailing.
"Is bollocks a bad word in English?" he asked. "Rubbish. All teams had blistering, very heavy blistering at the test in Barcelona.
"Red Bull, Ferrari, ourselves. McLaren have seen it I think also. The tyres wouldn't have lasted in the race.
"And the ambient, and the track temperatures, were arctic. And for that reason Pirelli changed the thickness of the tyre to prevent blistering, and they've been successful at preventing the blistering because we haven't see it on any car today," he added.
"So I don't know where suddenly this rumour comes out that we have been influencing Pirelli and the FIA to change any tyres. I have never seen anything working like that, why should they do it?"
He acknowledged that track conditions this weekend though could be flattering their pace a fair bit.
"We seem to be competitive when the ambient is a bit cooler and the track temperature is a bit cooler," he added.
"That is a pattern that we had in the last years also. We're working on a system to change the climate wherever we go!"
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