Belgian GP: No warning of F1 practice tyre blowout - Nico Rosberg

The German ended the day at the top of the timesheets at Spa, but also in the garage, after his right-rear Pirelli tyre failed spectacularly on the run to Blanchimont, in what he admitted was "a bit of a dent in the confidence".

While television pictures appeared to capture thread emerging from the surface earlier in the lap, Rosberg said he had no indication that the tyre was about to let go.

"I didn't feel anything before, there was no warning at all," he said.

"It's not a nice experience, at 300 kilometres per hour, nearly 200 miles an hour, I don't expect that at all, to suddenly just lose control completely.

"Something went wrong with the right rear, I don't know what it is.

"There's a lot of damage to the car as well, but luckily I didn't hit the wall or anything."

Pirelli has commenced an investigation into the failure, and Rosberg cautioned that it was "not really a good idea to start speculating about it".

"Of course there's going to be a big analysis," he added.

"We'll look at it again and if we have to make some changes again I don't know. Let's see."

While team-mate Lewis Hamilton re-emerged following Rosberg's accident, Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe confirmed it was on an altered programme.

"With one car ruled out of running, we decided not to continue the regular programme with Lewis until we had understood the problem," he said.

"We'll be working hard with Pirelli this evening to understand what happened and how we can ensure that we're operating safely for the rest of the weekend."