Lewis Hamilton admitted he was confused about where his pace went at the end of German Grand Prix qualifying after only managing eighth place in Q3. The result marked the first time all season that Hamilton had been outqualified by his McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who was seventh fastest.
Hamilton had been quickest by 0.6 second in Q2, which was hit by a shower at the start, so could not understand why his speed faded in similar conditions in the following qualifying segment.
"It does have to come together and we have to put in the laps but I was doing all right for a while and I don't understand what happened in the end," he said. "It was looking good until it got really wet but I don't know what happened at the end. I was quite quick and then I don't know if the tires went off or lost temperature. The track was drying up so we should have gone faster but we didn't."
The Briton did not think the timing of his final lap was a factor.
"For sure, the track was drying so it would be better [to have another lap] but I had one lap at the end and I went straight off so it was like driving on ice for us," said Hamilton. "Tomorrow will be a tough race and I plan to hunt down everyone in front," Hamilton said.
He added: "The great thing about here is that you have big DRS down the back so hopefully we will do some big overtaking tomorrow."