Rosberg “frustrated” at missing pole by small margin

With Hamilton failing to improve on his final flying lap, the door was open in Shanghai for Rosberg to knock his Mercedes teammate off pole – but he failed by the smallest of margins.

“I am frustrated, yeah, because it’s so close,” said Rosberg. “Of course, I would have wanted to have pole today.

“The lap was good, yeah, very annoying (to miss out by) four hundredths... the lap is never perfect so four hundredths was always in it."

"Oh, come on guys"

Rosberg vented his frustration on his in-lap by saying “Oh come on guys” over the radio when told how close he was to pole.

Team chief Toto Wolff thinks this was a reaction to recent talk of Rosberg falling behind Hamilton in Merc's pecking order after just two races.

“If you miss out by a couple of hundredths from pole there is always frustration,” said Wolff. “He was pushing so hard, and people have been saying that he didn’t have the momentum, so I guess that was important for him, so I guess that’s why he did that cry on the radio.”

Still opportunities to win

When asked where he could get ahead of Hamilton, Rosberg replied: “There’s a few opportunities: there’s the start and then there is the strategy.

"The tyre degradation is going to be a big issue tomorrow. There’s many opportunities.”

He was also asked if Ferrari would again be a factor in Sunday’s race, and Rosberg thinks so.

“Ferrari is a threat, for sure. They had good race pace. It’s not just Malaysia, it’s everywhere, so I hope we have a bit of an edge on them, but it will be close.”