• Spanish Grand Prix

Rosberg has 'no explanation' for poor pace

Nico Rosberg: "No I didn't expect it to be that tough" © Sutton Images

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Nico Rosberg said he has got "no explanation" to why Mercedes is so slow on race pace after finishing sixth in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes was the class of the field in Saturday qualifying as Rosberg secured pole position in a Mercedes front-row lock-out. However, in the race he slipped back and eventually finished sixth but was over a minute behind race winner Fernando Alonso. Despite acknowledging after qualifying that the race would be tough, Rosberg said the situation had been even worse than expected.

"No I didn't expect it to be that tough, I thought we'd be in a better position," Rosberg said. "It was very difficult, it's so difficult to explain it, you know? Why? Why on one lap so fast and then on a long run it's so slow? It's not just rear tyres, it's front and rear both, both just struggling. No explanation."

Late in the race Rosberg was asking if he could use his tyres to fight Paul di Resta, and although he managed to hold of the Force India he said it was a sign of Mercedes' struggles.

"The thing was that he had much fresher tyres, so the question was if I now try to keep him behind is it even worth trying? Because he's going to have fresh tyres, he's going to be so much quicker, so I'm going to try for three laps, destroy my tyres and he's going to get by anyway, then I might need even more positions behind because I didn't really know what was behind.

"So that's the sort of things that I have to try and understand. They just said 'take the risk and try and keep him behind' and it worked out but it's not really something that we can celebrate a lot unfortunately."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.