Button: Fifth Place Not Good Enough

Briton Jenson Button was disappointed after finishing in fifth position in today's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

The BAR driver, hoping for his seventh podium finish of the season, claimed a problem with his anti-stall system during his final pitstop had cost him the time to finish in the top three.

Button finished less than a second behind Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who claimed third place.

"I'm very disappointed because we expected to do a lot better here and fifth is not good enough," said Button. "The strategy was working well for us but at the last pitstop the engine went into anti-stall mode and cost me the time advantage that could have put us on the podium.

"We lost a possible third place today and, with Taku's problem, two much-needed points finishes, having worked so hard to close the gap to Renault. They had a good result today so we really have to have solved these problems going into our home race."

Takuma Sato, third for BAR at the last race in Indianapolis to equal the best result by a Japanese driver, was the first retirement with yet another engine problem.

"I struggled a little bit right at the start, and obviously, after the pit stop there was a significant problem and the engine did not last," he said after pulling over on the 17th lap. It was his sixth retirement in 10 races.