BMW's Robert Kubica has admitted that his team is struggling in China after the Polish driver failed to make it past Q1 for the first time in his career.
Kubica qualified 18th in Shanghai - his previous worst was 14th position for the Belgian Grand Prix – after BMW decided not to use the KERS system on his car on Saturday.
"The (race) pace, the performance is not as bad as it was in qualifying, but it is not very good so overall we are struggling," Kubica told the BBC.
Kubica, who had never gone out in Q1 before, admitted that a mistake on his flying lap contributed to his low position as team-mate Nick Heidfeld – still using KERS – qualified 11th.
"It was quite difficult," said Kubica. "I faced some problems with the soft tyres, additionally I lost the car in corner 12 under braking and I lost a lot of lap time and that is how it is."