Lewis Hamilton doubts he can replicate the rapid comeback through the field he managed at Silverstone two weeks ago, as he came to terms with another major setback in qualifying at the German Grand Prix.The world champion had a tough day on Saturday, firstly arriving at the track appearing to be suffering from an illness or certainly feeling a lot less than 100 per cent as he ambled in with his head down.That led to concerns he would not take part in final practice, although as it turned out only half of the drivers would as heavy rain made conditions very difficult indeed. All seemed well though after Hamilton had already set a fast enough time to make it through into the second stage of the all-important session to decide the grid for Sunday's race at Hockenheim, and he would continue to set flying laps to gain a better understanding of the car's feel on low fuel.On his third lap though, he would run wide at Turn 1 onto the harsh kerbs and bumpy run-off area with all four wheels in the air for a split second as he bounced back onto the track.Later he was seen driving slowly before reporting he was unable to change gear before later coming to a stop as a hydraulics problem eventually caused him to lose the throttle.

Initially, it was suggested that the rough ride had caused the failure, however, speaking to Sky Sports back in the paddock, it turned out to be the other way around.

"We got to the kerb and just before the kerb the steering broke, so that was the issue," he claimed, with the heavier than usual steering the reason why he ran wide.

The team then later confirmed: “The car’s ‘jumping’ moments seen on TV were a consequence of the hydraulic failure, rather than the cause of it.”

Should a car stop on track, that then rules the driver out of the session entirely, so Hamilton was seen trying to start a futile attempt to push his car back to the pits.

The marshals would soon put an end to that, however, and the Mercedes was wheeled back off the track.

As a result, the four-time world champion is now set to start 14th in the race but while he stormed through to P18 to P6 in around 11 laps last time out, Lewis doubts Hockenheim is as conducive to a repeat.

"At a track like this not really, no," he said. "This is one of the worst ones for overtaking. I will do what I can from there.

"These things happen, all you can do is try to gather your thoughts, put your energy, any negative energy, whatever energy you have and put it towards trying to do your best next day.

"Live to fight another day, another opportunity to rise - I'll try, I'll give everything tomorrow to see how high I can get up, but it's not going to be like Silverstone."

Watching on and seeing main championship rival Sebastian Vettel claim pole position certainly won't have helped make the 33-year-old's day any better.