Button confident Honda can go faster

The Briton, whose last points finish was at the Spanish Grand Prix back in May, was pleased with the way his RA108 reacted to changes during the opening sessions of the still-'green' street track.

"We were struggling with very low grip this morning and I'm sure that was the same for everyone out there," he said. "The track is very dusty and if you go offline, your tyres are quickly covered in dirt, which makes it difficult to be consistent.

"We made a lot of changes to the car this afternoon which have proved positive and provided a great deal of useful information to study this evening.

"It was nice to do a quick lap at the end on the option tyre. Hopefully we can further improve the car overnight and be reasonably competitive for qualifying tomorrow."

Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello ended the day at the opposite end of the times after making a series of changes to his car that left him stone last.

"We had a good morning session and I felt the car was quite well-balanced but this afternoon it was almost like I had a completely different car," explained the Brazilian. "We changed some parts for the session and unfortunately they had a real impact on the car's performance, which along with some braking concerns, meant that we were unable to progress.

"I'm confident that we can resolve these concerns overnight and get back on the pace for qualifying tomorrow."