Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has ruled out suggestions Mercedes was trying to gain an advantage at the Italian Grand Prix by attempting to run below-regulation tyre pressures.
The left-rear tyre pressure on both Mercedes was below the regulation 19.5 PSI when checked by the FIA on the grid at Monza, with Lewis Hamilton's 0.3 PSI too low and Nico Rosberg's 1.1 PSI too low. It was the first time the FIA has checked cars in this manner five minutes before the start of the race and it chose to measure the top four cars, with the Ferraris above the minimum tyre pressure and therefore legal.
When the stewards investigated Mercedes' discrepancies they found that the pressures had been correct when they were fitted and then dropped ahead of the start of the race. They also found that the team's tyre blankets were disconnected from their power source, as is normal, but relatively cool compared to Ferrari's, which would explain the lower pressures.
When it was put to Wolff that Mercedes may have targeted lower pressures to gain an advantage, he said: "I can absolutely rule that out."
Wolff added: "We have worked the whole week after Spa with Pirelli to find solutions in order to make those tyres safe. We were very much part of trying to guide them on minimum tyre pressures and minimum camber which we already had on our car at Spa, so I can rule out that we would be the ones who were trying to gain an advantage in a way which is absolutely unscientific and uncontrollable.
"How do you want to measure, in which time a tyre pressure, how much a tyre pressure drops when you disconnect it and why would you have it only on one tyre and then discrepancy between two cars."
Asked to explain what happened, Wolff said: "We followed the procedure established with Pirelli which was to have the tyres in the blankets, check the pressures together with Pirelli.
"The pressures were well above the minimum because safety is important for us. The tyres on the car for whatever reason, maybe because the tyres cooled down, a different pressure was found on one of the tyres. It was a tiny discrepancy."
Wolff said the procedure for when the tyres are checked needs to be clarified.
"You check the tyre pressure at the moment when you stick them on the car. This is the moment because you could ask when is the moment when you should check them? Five minutes to the end? Eight minutes to the end? It is about defining the procedure when those pressures are being checked in the future so it is the same for everybody."