Nico Rosberg admitted that he just wasn't good enough on the day to carry the fight for pole position to his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Rosberg had been within a tenth of a second of Hamilton in FP1 and FP3, but missed out on running in FP2 because of a water leak on his car. However when it came to the final round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon it seemed that Hamilton was able to get to another level that Rosberg simply wasn't able to find.

"It just wasn't the best day out there for me," he admitted. "Congrats to Lewis who did a good job here and that's it. But still, tomorrow is all to play for and definitely still pushing.

"There's a good opportunity in turn 3 to attack, so we'll see."

Rosberg dismissed suggestions that missing out on running in FP2 had any bearing on his preparations for qualifying and insisted that he's got everything he could out of the car on the day.

"They've given us an incredible car out there today," he said. "It was just a pleasure to drive that, especially through the high speed corners where it's like on rails. It just feels awesome.

"That's the most spectacular area for us racing drivers, these high speed corners, so that very special out there today."

The fact that the two Mercedes drivers will start tomorrow's race side-by-side on the grid gives rise to concerns that they might make contact again, just as they did in the final lap of last week's Austrian Grand Prix.

The pair have been read the 'riot act' by Mercedes management, and both Rosberg and Hamilton know what they need to do - and not do - on Sunday.

"We never want to collide and we never intend to collide. We'll be battling and continuing to avoid collisions," said Rosberg.

Asked whether he felt that the Mercedes rules of engagement were now clear to both drivers, Rosberg responded succinctly: "Very clear."

QUALIFYING REPORT: Hamilton survives Q3 scare to claim home pole

FEATURE: Home sweet Home - Eric Silbermann on Silverstone

Chris Medland's 2016 British Grand Prix preview

Romain Grosjean on predicting race results and collisions between team mates, in his latest column for F1i

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Bearman gives harsh verdict on Sao Paulo stand-in

Oliver Bearman got quite the early morning wake-up call on Friday in Sao Paulo when…

4 hours ago

Red Bull still 'looking at the facts' regarding Perez's performance

While his team mate Max Verstappen thrilled the fans with a run from 17th on…

6 hours ago

Sad Colapinto laments two crashes in one day in Sao Paulo

Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…

7 hours ago

McLaren: No regrets over timing of Norris pit stop in Sao Paulo GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…

9 hours ago

Williams' Boutsen hoists the mainsail in Adelaide

On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…

10 hours ago

Horner: Max 'answered critics' with epic Sao Paulo GP drive

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…

11 hours ago