Sauber's Marcus Ericsson has said he is prepared to "think outside the box" when it comes to improving his pace in qualifying after struggling to get the same results as rookie team-mate Charles Leclerc.
In the opening two rounds of the season the Swede was able to out-qualify Leclerc, however, he has since been shaded by the Ferrari-backed youngster.
Leclerc has been able to push the Sauber into Q3 on two occasions while Ericsson has only made it into the second part of qualifying just twice in the same timeframe at the halfway stage of the season.
"I need to find a way to qualify better, that’s the key," said the Swede.
"I’ve said it for a few weekends now and that’s still the main challenge for me at the moment as I think my race pace is as strong as anyone’s and with the car we have I feel really confident in the races and I’m very strong in the tyre management which I showed in Austria and also [at Silverstone].
"I believe that if I can manage to qualify a few places higher up, a few places closer to the top 10, or around the top 10, then I would be very, very strong in the races on Sunday.
"For me, that will be the main focus, with the team, and try and get all the different feedback from them in how we can improve it, set-up, tyres, driving, everything. It’s a combination of everything.
"Like I’ve said for quite a while, we need to keep working on it as that’s the key for scoring bigger points and that’s what I’m going to do in the two weeks before Hockenheim."
Since the second round in Bahrain, where Ericsson beat Leclerc and managed to score two points after a superb drive in the race, he has yet to get on top of his team-mate.
The Swede believes he is yet to rediscover the right feeling and confidence needs to deliver the best one-lap pace he can where it matters in qualifying.
When asked if the recent triple-header has hurt his attempts at trying to understand his problems, he added: "Yeah, I mean you’re so into it every weekend going into the next one.
"Now we have a bit of time to sort of sit back and think a bit maybe outside the box and come up with some ideas that we can try.
"Because at the end of the day it’s a thing to get me more comfortable with that one lap, to try and make me feel more where the grip level is and be comfortable on that grip level. I know I can do it.
"I’ve been strong in qualifying before and I know how to be good at one lap but at the moment I don’t really get that feeling I need for some reason and we need to find that.
"I think it’s also confidence, you have one great qualifying and suddenly it’s there and it clicks and then you know you keep going there. I think that’s what we’re going to look for."
