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Qualifying goes 'pear-shaped' for Rosberg

By Alan Baldwin MANAMA (Reuters) - Too much forward thinking back-fired on Nico Rosberg on Saturday when his Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying went "pear-shaped". "It just went wrong because I was thinking about the race too much," the Mercedes driver told reporters after qualifying third with Formula One champion team mate Lewis Hamilton on pole for the fourth race in a row. Instead of Rosberg alongside on the front row for Sunday's race, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will be lurking threateningly in the second grid position. "I under-estimated Sebastian’s speed and also how much it would cost me," added Rosberg, explaining that he had wanted to go easy in the second phase of qualifying on the set of tyres he would be starting the race with. "I just lacked the rhythm as a result. I didn’t get into the rhythm and I just had one shot at it at the end with a new set (of tyres), starting Q3 with a used set. So that’s where I went wrong today. "I'm disappointed, because Sebastian beat me. If I was second it would have been, still, damage limitation, but being third, that’s really not ideal," said the German. Rosberg had been on pole in Bahrain for the last two years and arrived in determined mood, eager to reassert himself over a team mate he has beaten just once in their last 10 races and not at all this year. He had recognised, after accusing Hamilton of compromising his race in China last weekend by slowing the pace and leaving him vulnerable to the chasing Vettel, that he needed to do better in qualifying. Rosberg was the qualifying king last year -- winning the inaugural pole trophy even if Hamilton ended up with 11 wins to his five. This season, he has been unable to find the same one-lap pace while Hamilton has nailed it again and again. "I didn’t expect to go on used (tyres) in the first part of Q3. I thought we’d go to new tyres. And I also didn’t expect the used tyre to be so slow, like the used tyre was really, really poor," Rosberg said. "So that meant that I only really had a shot there at the end. And that was poor management. Really, really poor management on my side. "So it just went a bit pear-shaped." (Editing by Ed Osmond)