Rosberg set fastest lap in Russia on "safe" settings

Although Rosberg dominated the race from start to finish, his day was not without problems, with the team revealing issues with his MGU-K late in the event.

In a demonstration of Mercedes' superiority, however, Rosberg set the quickest lap of the race with two laps to go, completing his first every 'grand chelem' (pole position, fastest lap and victory).

Although Rosberg's best lap was over six tenths of a second faster than anyone else - and set on used soft tyres - Mercedes revealed on Wednesday that it was actually set when the power unit was not performing at its peak.

Felipe Massa had the second fastest lap of the race, but on supersoft tyres. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen's best lap was a full second off Rosberg's.

"Shortly after his pitstop, we saw some alarming behaviour from Nico's MGU-K," said Mercedes in an open letter to the fans on Wednesday.

"We spent a number of laps reassuring him that he had a good gap over Lewis and could ease off before the FIA gave us the all-clear to tell him to switch to a setting that would control the issue.

"At the wheel, Nico wouldn't have had any inkling of the stress on the pit-wall. When he put in the fastest lap on the penultimate lap of the race, he was still in that 'safe' setting – demonstrating just how much pace the car had last weekend.

"This made Sunday all the more stressful for each of us. But, in the end, we were relieved just to get both cars to the flag."

With Hamilton also suffering problems, Mercedes insisted that it needs to continue to push to improve its reliability.

The team said the Briton had completed 16 laps with "zero" water pressure.

"Ultimately, none of this changes the fact that we have not met our own expectations in terms of reliability so far this season," it added. "Performance-wise we are right on the money – with a points haul just two shy of what we had managed by the same stage in 2015.

"But there is work to be done. Our goal is not simply to be fast but bulletproof too. Not just to manage problems but to understand them, fix them and ensure they are not repeated. We are working tirelessly to do just that and will continue to do so every step of the way.

"But there are no guarantees. This is a mechanical sport, balancing on the knife edge of performance and endurance. You have to push the boundaries and failures can happen."

No conspiracy

Mercedes also continued to dismiss accusations that it is sabotaging Lewis Hamilton's season.

"We have the best guys and girls in the world, doing an awesome job, week in and week out – and they do it for the team," Mercedes added.

"Not for one driver or the other – but for each other. There is no 'A' or 'B' team here. Every single member of the crew has earned their right to be counted among the elite of their trade – and have sacrificed much to do so.

"What happened in Sochi showed the world just what a team working in unison is capable of. We were baffled and gutted by the repeat MGU-H failure on Lewis' car in qualifying.

"But we kept calm, gathered our thoughts and sprung into action.

"It took a monumental effort from a significant number of people back in the UK and in Russia to fly spare parts out to the track, fit them to the spare power unit by working through the night and make sure Lewis could start from P10 on Sunday without having broken parc ferme."