Button says car just not fast enough

In Button's case  the day was even worse, the Briton failing to go through to the second part of qualifying after blaming traffic for not managing a quick lap.

The Honda driver, however, admitted his car had no pace.

"I had my run ruined by traffic today in the first session which is obviously very disappointing," said Button, who has now failed to make the first cut twice this season. "Having said that, the car just wasn't quick enough and we were not on the pace for the quick qualifying lap.

"It would have been nice to do two new tyre runs in the first session but we didn't have time. It's a shame because this is one of the circuits that I really enjoy but we'll just have to see if we can fight our way through from the back and salvage something from the weekend."

Button has not finished in the points since the Spanish Grand Prix five races ago.

The day was not much better for teammate Barrichello, who qualified in 14th position.

"I had a little bit of traffic on section one of my last run but we're just not quick enough," said Barrichello. "We maybe could have gone a little bit faster but not a lot and unfortunately that was the pace of the car today. We feel that we're missing some grip in the middle of the corner, although actually the balance of the car itself is not so bad.

"On the long runs we seem to have a good pace so that is something for tomorrow, but we are starting so far back that it will be very tough to get a result from here."