Barrichello hails Honda's effort

Improvements tried out in testing at Paul Ricard in France last week appear to have lifted the team's performance, and the drivers' growing confidence with the handling has paid dividends in delivering their best qualifying performance of the year.

"I would like to say a big thank you to the whole team today," said Barrichello, who will line up ninth on the grid. "We did a fantastic job to make it through to the final session.

"Little by little we are improving and although we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, we are encouraged. I know we will get back to where we belong. I'm very excited for tomorrow. This is always a great race but starting P9 really gives us a shot at the points."

Button was gifted the chance to get through to Q3 after David Coulthard was not allowed to take part in the session because he had blocked Heikki Kovalainen.

"It's great that we made it through to the third session today," smiled the Briton, who qualified 10th. "Definitely a step in the right direction.

"My radio wasn't working properly and it was crackling the whole time so in the end I had to unplug it completely, which was far from ideal because we had to be 'on it' the whole time during today's qualifying.

"Monaco places a premium on qualifying position so what we have achieved today is great. The team did a good job and we can do well tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to it."