Pole-sitter Nico Rosberg is confident that the electrical issue that threatened to derail his qualifying run at the German Grand Prix will not rear its head in Sunday's race.

The Mercedes driver, who is looking to reclaim the lead in the Formula One drivers' standings from team-mate Lewis Hamilton, clocked a brilliant time of one minute and 14.363 seconds to pip the world champion after another ding-dong battle at Hockenheim.

However, Rosberg's Q3 was hindered in the early stages when an electrical problem meant he had to bail on his first run and head back to the pits.

The home favourite is not overly concerned, though, and is readying himself for another tussle with Hamilton.

"I don't know what it was. It just suddenly lost the throttle, and it cut completely the engine," Rosberg told reporters.

"It was just at the end of the lap, so that was disappointing, but I'm sure we'll fix it for tomorrow.

"It's never happened before so I'm sure it will be okay. 

"It will be an exciting race against Lewis and the Red Bull, and maybe also the Ferraris, but they're a bit further back it seems.

"It was a great feeling, a great lap. Not only was it just one lap that I had but I also had extra fuel to make sure I had an extra shot if I made a mistake or something happened, so fuelled for three laps.

"So that's some more time in the bag there. I was really satisfied with that one, that was cool."

Hamilton, who has a six-point advantage over Rosberg in the standings having won five of the past six races, says there was no issue with his car and was just beaten by the faster driver.

"It has been a good weekend. I had no problems," he said. "I had the pace but I just didn't finish it off on the last lap."