Heading towards what looked likely to be a certain runner-up finish, or at least a podium, Sebastian Vettel crashed out on the 26th lap following a tyre failure.

Within moments of the incident, which had echoes of the German's failure at Spa last year, Pirelli took to social media to blame debris for the failure.

The Italian company subsequently launched an investigation, appearing to back-track on the debris claim, but on Wednesday, its enquiry hampered by the damage to the tyre, Pirelli concluded that the failure was caused by debris.

Vettel isn't entirely convinced.

"To make an analysis was not so easy because there was not much left of the tyre," he told the official F1 website. "But what we've got from Pirelli as explanation was that debris caused the damage.

"In such a case, what can you do?" he continued. "It was a pity because at that point in the race it looked pretty promising for us. I think we would have delivered a good race."

Asked if Ferrari's strategy was partly to blame, he said: "I don't believe so, and in hindsight, if it really was debris that caused the tyre to go bust, it could have also happened in the second lap and not necessarily after 25. So I don't see that our strategy had anything to do with what happened."

Asked, in view of the incident, how he and the team will approach tyre strategy from now on, and whether more attention might be paid to Pirelli's recommendations, he said: "Being on the starting grid holds an element of risk. That goes for everybody. We all know that the cars are built on the limit and we all know that something can happen at any time. And if you are the one that is a pity, but thank God nothing happened and that is the most important fact.

"In F1 you never can fully eliminate risk... only if you don't get into the car. Having said that, I think it is not necessary for us to change anything in our behaviour or strategy."

Check out our Saturday gallery, here.