BAR Dropping Behind, Says Button

Briton Jenson Button claims his BAR-Honda team have suffered a drop-off in performance since the start of the season.

Button, who has scored six podium finishes this year, was the big hope for a British win at today's Silverstone race. The BAR driver, however, endured a disappointing day and could only come home in fourth position, missing the podium for the third consecutive race.

BAR had been Ferrari's main challengers in the first part of the season, but have underperfomed in the last two races in France and Britain, and Button said his team were just not quick enough.

"We came into this race expecting a lot more than we've been able to deliver; today's race performance was nowhere near our testing performance earlier in the year," said Button. "We really struggled with a lack of grip compared to the Ferraris and it was like we were in a different race in terms of the way our car was handling.

"Our pace showed that we weren't as quick today as we were at the start of the season. Somehow we've managed to drop behind a bit which is very disappointing, particularly in front of our home crowd. We've got a lot of work to do now ahead of the German Grand Prix in two weeks time."

BAR's disappointing day was completed by the performance of Takuma Sato, who was never in contention for a points finish. The Japanese wound up in 11th place.

"It's been a tough race today and a tough weekend generally," said Sato. "We are obviously very disappointed that we were unable to achieve our targets for this race, especially in front of all of the team's British fans."