Lewis Hamilton admits he baffled by his poor run of form after another disappointing display in Japan over the weekend.
While his team-mate Jenson Button capped off five consecutive appearances on the podium with victory at Suzuka, Hamilton could only manage P5. The 26-year-old also copped flak from Ferrari's Felipe Massa following yet another on-track collision.
The string of poor results has seen him drop 32 points behind team-mate Button in the Drivers' Championship.
Hamilton admits he is can't quite explain why things are going wrong and doesn't know how to fix the problems.
"You're all trying to put out solutions as to why I'm not going well, but there is no solution, there is no answer to it," he said.
"I don't know what the answer is, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't just jump to conclusions because I don't know what the answer is.
"I just wasn't quick enough. I was quick in qualifying, I wasn't quick in the race.
"I just struggled to keep pace with the guys at the front. That's the way it is."
Some have suggested that Button's great form has had an effect on Hamilton as the 31-year-old has picked up 101 points to his team-mate's 44.
"Jenson is proving to be a formidable team-mate," team principal Martin Whitmarsh said when asked about the issue.
"At the point we signed Jenson everybody said he must be mad, that he will get destroyed by Lewis.
"Jenson realised straightaway the natural talent and speed of Lewis, but he kept his head and decided 'I'll do what I do best', and that's thinking things through.
"He is also an incredibly quick driver as well, and now he is on an upward swing, but bear in mind he is five years ahead of Lewis in his professional development.
"I'm a lousy statistician, but it was about 110 races before Jenson won a grand prix. Comparatively to where Lewis is right now, he had not even won a race."
