Mark Webber heads to Hungary this weekend in search of answers for his dramatic loss of form at Hockenheim on Sunday.
After becoming only the second driver this year to win two races with his British Grand Prix triumph two weeks previously, Webber qualified well enough in Germany with third.
However, a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change to his Red Bull dropped the 35-year-old Australian down the order to eighth.
It was a position from which Webber failed to make any headway, finishing where he started, and 47 seconds adrift of race winner Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
"I wasn't quick at any stage in the race, I was just hanging on," said an unhappy Webber.
"We need to look into why we weren't quick. We expected to get more out of it after the first lap, which wasn't too bad.
"I got Lewis (Hamilton), but after that, as I say, I was hanging on. I had nothing to fight with.
"It wasn't very special. I couldn't keep a solid pace at all.
"I was a little bit held up in the first stint, but after that I wasn't strong enough at any point in the race to put up a serious challenge for a decent amount of points.
"It's bizarre to have races where you are very competitive, but then you finish one 40 seconds away from the leaders."
Webber, who has now fallen 34 points adrift of Alonso after going into the German Grand Prix just 13 points behind, is looking to close that gap this weekend at the Hungaroring to provide a tonic ahead of the three-week August holiday.
With one of his nine victories coming at the track in 2010, Webber said: "The Hungaroring is a good little venue, and we've had some good races there in the past.
"Obviously overtaking has not been easy on that circuit, but it will be interesting to see how the cars perform there as it's a hot race.
"In general it's a track I enjoy, I like driving there and of course we're looking forward to doing well before the summer break."
