Button Delighted with Front Row Slot

Briton Jenson Button was delighted after slotting into second place on the grid for tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix.

"It feels great to be starting the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row," admitted the Briton, who will be looking to score his maiden F1 win tomorrow. "This is a race everyone wants to do well in and to be in with the best chance of winning, or even on the podium, you have to be on the front row.

"That might be the case with Michael, but I am sandwiched between the Renaults, and as we've seen here today, they are looking solid at the moment. We expected to be strong here, but I was struggling a little with set-up this morning.

"Thankfully we were able to address this for the start of qualifying and the car felt so much better, although I was still unable to get the best out of sector two. I'm pretty happy with everything though. I love it here and I think we can do a good job tomorrow."

Button is currently in third place in the Championship, having scored points in all five races so far, including three consecutive podiums.

Japan's Takuma Sato looked set for an impressive qualifying time until he came close to losing control of his car right after the tunnel. Sato lost a lot of time and wound up seventh quickest.

"It's a great shame because I was on a really good lap until I had a moment in sector two coming off the kerb," said Sato. "I wasn't able to pick up grip straight away so I locked up into the chicane after the tunnel. Everything locked up - the front and the rears and I lost a lot of time.

"This unsettled me in sector three also. I'm not very happy because I could have been closer to the front row today, but I have to be positive and rely on what I think will be a strong strategy for tomorrow's race."