Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has admitted that he made a tactical error in qualifying after he finished third ahead of tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix.

The German will line up behind pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel for the race, and he put his below-par performance down to tyre conservation earlier in the session.

He told reporters: "Strategy wise I got it wrong. I was thinking too much about the race and I underestimated Sebastian's speed.

"I took it easy in Q2 to save the race tyres, so I lacked the rhythm for Q3. That's where I went wrong today. Being third is not ideal."

Rosberg has yet to win a race this season, while teammate Hamilton has already claimed two victories.