Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he expects to struggle in the Spanish Grand Prix despite securing spot on the grid for Sunday's race.

The British driver enjoyed a successful qualifying session and only finished behind Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

However, the former world champion believes that it will be difficult to maintain such a high level of performance.

Hamilton told reporters: "I think for the race I am going to struggle generally. I have to look over things this evening and think how I am going to limit the tyre degradation, which is going to be a big problem for me.

"It's going to be real difficult tomorrow. I don't think it's going to be hugely different to the last race. We are doing everything we can and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for us."

Rosberg admitted that he was surprised by the pace of the team in qualifying.