Button bemoans lack of pace

Button had a major twitch on the way into the final chicane that cost him most of his time, but he felt that his car was simply not on the pace as the track conditions changed.

"We had a very good free practice this morning with Jacques and I swapping places in the top three at one point," said Button. "As the track has continued to dry though, we've struggled to keep up with the Michelin runners.

"My qualifying lap was poor from the beginning," he admitted. "I had very low grip throughout and the car wasn't handling at all well, then the rears locked up in the last corner. Even without that problem it wouldn't have been a very impressive lap. It's very disappointing to be starting the race from 17th. It looks like it's going to be dry as well so from this position we have a lot of hard work to do to make the best of things tomorrow once we are able to get more heat into the tyres."

His team-mate Villeneuve will start his home grand prix in 14th and said: "I think we'll be stronger in the race - not as strong as we would be in a wet race but we can certainly improve on qualifying."