Daniil Kvyat says he needs to work with his team to solve a recurring operational issue which he feels accounted for his exit in Q1 during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Kvyat was an unexpected casualty in the Q1 and only qualified in front of the Manors and Jenson Button, who failed to set a time after his McLaren broke down. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo qualified seventh but Kvyat said there was an issue on his side of the garage which needs addressing.
"There's a few things that myself and the team needs to tidy out between us because if these thing keep striking us right in qualifying I can't really deliver a proper lap," Kvyat said. "We both understand these things shouldn't happen so we tidy them up we will be alright for the next race. Quali was very negative today, but the race is tomorrow and there's plenty to pick up starting from there. It's more work to do but in a way this is what we like as racing drivers.
"We were having a few issues with our operational stuff, I would say, I don't want to mention particular stuff because it keeps repeating itself. It put me on the back foot through this lap and me as a driver is very sensitive to these issues, especially in qualifying, and this is good to know as a team."
The Russian also said the issue did not extend to Ricciardo's side of the garage.
Asked if there was any mistake he made on the lap, the Russian said: "Not so much, really, other than a few tenths from my side. I think that lap was fair enough but it was all I could do. Of course, if everything was together, if we could tidy up those little issues, I wasn't 1.2s off my team-mate [Daniel Ricciardo], but anyway this is how it is."
Pressed more on the issue he was talking about, the 20-year-old mentioned energy problems with his power unit.
"We think there were a few energy issues for myself during qualifying but we need to analyse them deeper to understand what provoked them and how deep the influence was. Nevertheless the race for me is tomorrow ... It doesn't sound too complicated to me and this is why I'm also a bit gutted that these things happened in qualifying at the most inconvenient moment.
"But we need to analyse them deeper, understand what provoked them, and how it affected the performance. Let's wait and see where the real issue was. It's like a snowball - one thing leads to another."