BAR struggles to regain lost form

Button and Villeneuve were 11th and 13th respectively in qualifying, although the Briton believes it can regain the lost ground tomorrow and get back to where they were after testing at Monza last week.

"It was quite a good lap but I'm a little bit disappointed because I was quicker in free practice," said Button. "There was a lot less grip out there this afternoon and I had quite a lot of understeer in the high speed corners. It's only Friday though, and we're a little more optimistic for the rest of the weekend.

"There were quite a lot of fallen leaves and gusty winds out there today, so when the track picks up tomorrow we should be able to qualify in the top 10 quite easily. Last week in testing we found a tyre that is consistent and when all of those factors come together I'm sure we can do a lot better."

Team principal David Richards says his squad will investigate why things didn't go to plan today.

"We obviously need to try to understand where we lost time compared with free practice this morning, when we appeared to be as competitive as we were in last week's testing," said Richards. "I'm sure that tomorrow morning's two sessions will resolve this and we will be far stronger for the race."