Schumacher says expectations not met in qualifying for the German GP

The seven-time champion will start the race from 10th position after a difficult day during which the German did not feel comfortable with the handling of his car.

Schumacher finished over a second behind team-mate Nico Rosberg, and conceded he was mystified by the gap.

"We did not perform to expectations this afternoon and already this morning the car was not the one I had in my hands up to the first run in P3," said Schumacher. "It felt like I was just sliding around out there and the balance wasn't great.

"We had a KERS problem this morning, which we thought explained the big gap to Nico, however in qualifying I was still nearly a second away and couldn't have matched his time, so we have to analyse deeply what could be the reason for it.

"Obviously then, I tried to push even harder to compensate, which lead to a mistake in the last chicane on my last lap, probably costing me P8. We now have to see how we can improve for tomorrow, and I will certainly try to have a good start and a race as good as possible."

Rosberg, on the other hand, was happy with sixth place and was left optimistic of enjoying a strong race on Sunday.

"Sixth place is a good place to start tomorrow, and whether the conditions are wet or dry, I think we can have a good race from there," he said. "I'm happy with the set-up work that we have achieved this weekend and that the new parts are working which is really satisfying.

"We can see that we are going in the right direction. It should be an exciting race tomorrow and hopefully I can make up a couple of positions in front of all the German supporters."