Nico Hulkenberg says that a combination of traffic and a 'loose' feeling from his Force India contributed to his lowly grid position at the Italian Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg was eliminated from the second knockout segment during qualifying at Monza after setting only the 14th fastest time.
"My position today could have been better, but my final lap in Q2 was not on the pace," he said.
"The main issue was the heavy traffic on my out lap going into the final corner, which really hurt my preparation.
"Everybody was backing up so I had to slow down and lost tyre temperature and pressure, and could not improve my time. Also, my first run in Q2 was not quite strong enough so we missed out on Q3.
"It was just a struggle today and the car has been feeling a bit loose. However, we can still race well. If I can make a good start and gain some positions on the first lap, we have every possibility of scoring some points."
Team-mate Sergio Perez cut a happier figure after setting the tenth fastest time in Q3.
"We can be happy about this result: ninth could have been possible, perhaps, but I feel we nearly maximised our potential and that's all we could have asked from this session," he said.
"Looking at our performance yesterday, our race pace should be strong, but there are not that many options to choose from with the strategy."