Lewis Hamilton: 'I didn't do a great job in qualifying'

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he was far from his best during the qualifying phase of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver will start in second position in the main event after recording a time of 1:24.948, marginally slower than teammate Nico Rosberg in pole.

"Nico did a great job. I didn't have the balance where I liked. Tomorrow there's still a lot to play for," BBC Sport quotes Hamilton as saying.

"I didn't think I was on the back foot, I just didn't have pace today and didn't do a great job."

Hamilton's qualifying time was just enough to hold off Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel in third, who was almost a full second off the Briton's pace.