Button encouraged by Friday pace

As predicted, the higher track temperatures helped Button find more performance in his car, although the championship leader may not be so lucky during the rest of the weekend, with cooler weather expected.

Button, looking to bounce back following two difficult races, finished down in 13th position, but the Briton was nonetheless pleased with his progress.

"It's been a much better Friday for us than at the last couple of races," said Button. "Obviously the temperatures are higher here which works in our favour and we have some good aerodynamic updates to the car for this race.

"We achieved a lot of important work today with the tyres and whilst we have some way to go to get them working at their optimum, it's a good start to the weekend."

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was also happy with his work, having spent the day focusing on tyre work.

The Brazilian posted the seventh quickest time.

"Our programme today was to work with the two tyre compounds to fully understand their working range and the impact on the set-up and balance of the car," explained Barrichello.

"Most of my day was focused on evaluating the prime tyre which proved not have a great deal of grip so it was important to establish some set-up assumptions. We then tried the option tyre later this afternoon which seemed to be quicker. Overall I'm pretty happy with our progress today."