The initial suggestion was that rival tyre manufacturers Michelin had instigated the stories to discredit Ferrari and Bridgestone, but motorsport director Pierre Dupasquier has strongly denied any involvement.

Brawn, meanwhile, is perplexed at the lengths some people would strive to undermine a winning team and has laughed off the speculation.

“Why would we want to do it?” questioned Brawn.

“We’ve a fantastic car with great tyres, the best driver, so we are not going to mess around with stuff like that.

“It’s quite an involved process anyway. It’s not something you could do discreetly, and it’s illegal so we just wouldn’t do it.

“I don’t know where these stories come from because Michelin say they are not doing it, we are saying we’re not doing it, and we’re the people who should know, and the FIA are saying we’re not doing it.

“We wouldn’t do it on principle and we wouldn’t do it because of the situation we have here.”

Brawn concedes to being “annoyed and frustrated” at the allegations, for he feels they “bring Formula One into disrepute a little bit”.

He added: “It used to be traction control. That was the big unprovable that a car going quickest had traction control, but that myth was exploded and now the new one is special tyres.

“But I think there are people who look for easy reasons and there are none for the success of Ferrari. It has been achieved with a group of people who have put a massive effort into getting there.

“People always want to look for an easy reason and sometimes cover their own backsides because they have to go back to their board of directors and explain why they are not winning races.

“It’s an easy thing to say ’we’re not winning because they are doing something they shouldn’t be doing’. It’s a very easy excuse to make.

“It is frustrating, but unfortunately that’s the nature of Formula One.”

Ferrari are determined to unearth the source of the story, although whether the matter is pursued through lawyers remains to be seen.

“I don’t know if there’s any substance in the stories for us to take legal action,” reflected Brawn.

“If we establish the individual who has been putting this about then we would have to have a stern word with them at least.”

Dupasquier is also at a loss to understand the allegations, and maintains what is being described could not be done, insisting: “It’s not possible. It doesn’t make any sense.

“I know the people at Ferrari and in their situation to even think about doing something like that is ridiculous.

“These rumours always exist, but it doesn’t make sense to me at all. It’s certainly not us putting these rumours about.”