Lewis Hamilton kicking himself for German GP qualifying performance

The reigning world champion was fastest in the first two parts of qualifying but locked up at the hairpin on his final run in Q3 and will start second.

Hamilton took the blame and attributed his downbeat demeanour to the fact he felt he had let his mechanics down.

"I brought it to qualifying, I was quickest, quickest, quickest and I was easily quickest again in the end but I didn't deliver," said Hamilton.

"So that's something I have to handle to deal with and that's just how I view it, you know when you kick yourself a little bit.

"My mechanics who are building my car were all hoping to get pole.

"I've got my engineers who work until 1am, 2am every night so it's a lot of weight when you don't deliver the way they have delivered.

"So that's where I am in my head.

"But you know there's nothing I can do about the past and we're moving forwards now and on Sunday I can make a difference - so I will."

ELECTRONICS PROBLEM CAUSED ROSBERG'S SCARE

Rosberg had to back out of his first run after encountering what technical chief Paddy Lowe described as an "electronics problem [that] caused an engine cut-out, with a warning message relating to his throttle pedal also appearing".

Lowe added that "switching various systems to default modes" fixed the problem, and Rosberg returned with enough fuel for three laps and duly took pole.

"I suddenly lost the throttle, it just cut completely the engine at the end of the lap," said Rosberg.

"It was frustrating at the time as it was a good lap and then to lose it two corners from end in a way that I have never experienced before was tough.

"I had to put extra fuel for the last run, to be able to do three laps, just to have a contingency plan in case that one didn't work out.

"It was one of my best [poles], especially under the circumstances."

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff was confident the electronics issue would not be a problem for Sunday's race.

"It looked like it was a sensor," he said.

"A sensor felt like we had an error in the system, which was triggered by a certain way of driving.

"I don't think this has consequences."