Button Happy to be Back in Action

"It hasn't been good missing it. It's never good to miss racing but that's all in the past now," said Button after Friday's practice.

The British driver, still to score a point this year after seven races, was only 16th quickest at the Nurburgring today.

Button admitted his team had to take things easy after they were forced to use the same Honda engines used at the San Marino Grand Prix five weeks ago.

"Today wasn't the best day," he said. "There is still a lot of work to do to make sure we are competitive this weekend.

"We've been doing a tyre comparison today which has been okay. I think we understand where we are with the tyres. We have had to be a little bit careful today as it's not the most important day to go quick. We've had to be a little bit careful with the engine - having it sat around for five weeks doesn't really help.

"But there is quite a bit of work to do tomorrow to improve the car and be a little bit more on the pace. We are taking it so easy with the engine, we are running very lows revs and lots of other things. We'll unleash it a little bit more tomorrow.

"The car is okay but it's so hot it's difficult to get a consistent balance. There's a bit of work to do tomorrow. I don't think anybody expected it to be as warm as it is here but we are all in the same situation so it's not too bad.

"We don't know how quick we are compared to the opposition. Hopefully we can get a good finish here because we need a good position in qualifying for Montreal. There's a lot of work to be done this weekend still and I'm not going to predict anything quite yet. We always push, we are here to give 100 percent so nothing's changed."

Button's teammate Takuma Sato was 15th fastest.