Button frustrated by Q3 problems

The Brawn driver, who secured his first F1 crown in the previous race in Brazil, had been very strong in the practice sessions, but then had to settle for fifth position in the grid-deciding segment.

Button said his car's handling had changed drastically in Q3, and was disappointed not to have achieved a better result.

"The car has felt good here all weekend and the first two sessions went well in qualifying today," he said. "Unfortunately in Q3 when we were running with high fuel and new tyres, I started to get massive vibrations every time that I hit the brakes which made the steering wheel shudder.

"With such a smooth circuit any kind of vibration just leads to understeer which made the car quite a handful to drive.

"It's frustrating as we had the potential for a better performance today and should have been challenging for the first row behind Lewis. Hopefully we can solve the issue before the race and I'm looking forward to a good fight tomorrow."

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello, on the other hand, was happy with his performance after qualifying in fourth position.

"It was a good qualifying session for us today and I'm quite happy with fourth position and what we have achieved," Barrichello said. "The car is still very competitive but the Red Bulls and McLarens seem to be ahead of us here.

"It's been challenging to get the right set-up throughout the weekend as the sessions are taking place in very different track and ambient conditions. The car seems to improve towards the end of the day with the cooler temperatures so we can hope that the track comes towards us tomorrow.

"It's very close with Sebastian for second position in the Championship and I'll be going to be flat out for the best result."