F1 Chinese GP: Jenson Button surprised by McLaren-Honda's Q1 exit

Button gave McLaren its first top-10 result in any session of the 2015 F1 season when he went 10th-quickest in Friday afternoon practice.

That raised hopes of a significant step forward from McLaren, but both Button and Fernando Alonso ended qualifying on row nine again.

"I think we thought we would be closer to the top 10 - not that we were going to get into the top 10, but I thought we would be a little bit closer, so I'm a little bit surprised actually," he said.

"In practice we seemed quite competitive, and maybe we just ran less fuel than other people, but I would be surprised.

"If you compare us to the guys at the front, that gap is pretty much the same as yesterday.

"It's more that the cars that we were in front of yesterday have stepped up, or they've got the car working, or had issues yesterday like [Felipe] Massa did.

"We couldn't find a balance that really worked. But in saying that, it wasn't too bad either.

"It wasn't the perfect lap, but even so I wouldn't have got us into Q2. So a little bit puzzling."

Alonso missed all of final practice after his car came to a halt on his out-lap.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said the issue was relatively small.

"It was an ignition issue in the car, which is related to some little parts failure," he said.

"It cost time to repair, but mainly because we had to be precautionary and check the engine that everything was fine."

Alonso said his hope for the grand prix was primarily to finish.

"It's going to be a difficult day in terms of performance, in terms of position, in terms of battling with other cars, in terms of deficit compared to the main competitors," he said.

"I think in the learning process that we're in the middle of now, to finish the race is the main priority.

"That's how I approach the race, how I approach the strategy, the number of pitstops, the laps to the pitstops, everything will be put into account to make the car finish and to get some experience.

"I think we have to be positive, but also with feet on the ground."