Button encouraged by new suspension

The Briton will start tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix from 12th place.

Button said the updates introduced for this weekend's race have meant a step forward in performance, and the Honda racer was encouraged by his team's form.

"I'm happy to have qualified in P12 today after a good lap on the final run in Q2 pushed me a few places up the grid," said Button.

"We've definitely made some progress with the new developments to the car and in particular the new rear suspension is working well and this has enabled us to improve the car step by step over the weekend.

"I got the most out of the car today and it's encouraging to see we were only three tenths away from the top ten as it has been a while since we were that close. I'm on the dirty side of the grid, which is a disadvantage, but I am sure we can have a good race tomorrow from here nonetheless."

Teammate Rubens Barrichello, on the other hand, had a day to forget after being unable to make it past Q3.

The Brazilian will start from 18th position.

"Choosing which tyre to run was a really tough decision today and it was a difficult qualifying session," said Barrichello. "I felt the supersoft option tyre was working slightly better with the car so I stayed with that for my final run. After a good first sector, I went in too quick for turn 11 and made a mistake which ruined my lap.

"With that went the chance to progress to Q2 and the time from my previous run puts me in 18th place on the grid. The lap was going quite well but a mistake at turn 11 meant that I had to abort the lap. I have to settle for 18th place today and turn my focus now to the race."