Agony for Button after leading race

Thanks to a well-timed pitstop, Button led the race for 15 laps until being overhauled by race winner Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. He was running in a comfortable second place when his engine failed with 32 laps remaining.

"Leading the US Grand Prix was a great feeling and a fantastic moment in my career, but it's massively disappointing to lose out on the best chance I've had at my first podium," said Button. "The team was aware for a few laps that I was losing hydraulic pressure but there was nothing they could do about it. Before this affected the car, we had an engine problem, and as I came round the last corner the engine gave way.

"It was a really tough race generally. The changing weather made any strategic decision a gamble and we were waiting and waiting to be sure that stopping and changing to wets was the best move. We held on a bit too long and I went off as things got really slippery out there. The car was pretty much undriveable; I had a lot of oversteer and, after my pitstop, the car was really twitchy.

"Realistically Michael was going to get past me sooner or later but I was hanging in well behind him and I'm confident that, all things being equal, we could have stayed there for the rest of the race. We needed points here today and instead we missed out on a great opportunity."

Team-mate Jacques Villeneuve also suffered an engine failure 12 laps later.