Lewis Hamilton was left scratching head after his Mercedes team’s showing at the 5th round of the world championship in Spain at the 2013 Spanish Gp.

An utterly dominant Saturday surprised the paddock and looked to set to stand the Rosberg and Hamilton duo in good stead for Sunday’s main event. But despite taking their third pole position in as many race the Mercedes drivers were found wanting in the race.A front row start meant nothing as first Hamilton then Rosberg were unceremoniously shuffled through the field. The age old problem of tyre wear shattered any designs the two may have had on the podium much less victory and left Lewis Hamilton with more questions than answers.

“Today I was doing absolutely everything the same as I did in Bahrain. But I had no grip, I couldn’t push, and if I did, the tyre just went off immediately. I’m absolutely lost today. I don’t know what went wrong,” a perplexed Hamilton admitted.

It wasn’t any better for pole starting teammate Rosberg either.”It was really difficult out there, but why? Why on one lap are we so fast and on a long run so slow? It’s strange, and it’s not just one axle, it’s front and rear. Both are struggling and there’s no explanation.”

Some suggest that the coanda exhaust system and overheating of rear tyres could be the culprit in Mercedes’ struggle with tyre wear. But it begs the question if the problem is so obvious why hasn’t it been fixed?

Mercedes will again be regarded as favourites come qualifying at Monaco but the question remains – what about the race?