Hamilton blames poor grip for struggle

The world champion finished 16th and missed the cut to go into Q2 for the second time in a row and for the third time this season.

After looking competitive on Friday, Hamilton said his car had become slower as the weekend progressed.

"Our car seems to have got slower relative to the others as the grip has gone down on the track," said Hamilton. "I pushed as hard as I could today but I just had no grip out there.

"We now need to make sure we don't rush into making too many changes to the car for the forthcoming races: we'll take our time, refine things and sort out the problem with our car.

"The team has done a fantastic job though: they really have been working night and day with the same determination and drive as ever. This is clearly going to be a challenging year for us, but I have no doubts that we'll bounce back."

Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, quickest yesterday, was also unable to shine today, but the Finn managed to make it to Q2, finishing in 14th position.

"Our car doesn't have enough grip for us to attack the fast corners," said Kovalainen. "The others seem to gain grip through the weekend and are able to better use the Option tyre while we're using the Prime and losing performance. Braking and acceleration are still very good but we're just losing grip as the track temperature increases.

"The gap to the leaders is still too big so we need to do some more work back at the MTC to move closer to the front. We'll never give up, but tomorrow's race will be difficult."