Button happy to finally make Q2

The Honda driver will start from 12th position after having missed the cut in Valencia, Spa and Monza.

"I'm pretty happy with our qualifying performance today and it is certainly a big improvement on the last few races," said Button.

"My final lap was compromised with too much understeer and very low grip in the first sector, but it was reasonable and it's nice to have the pace to compete in Q2 again.

"We got to grips with the circuit pretty quickly at the start of the weekend, which has provided a good foundation for qualifying today and our race preparation for tomorrow."

Teammate Rubens Barrichello, however, continued with his miserable run of qualifying results, failing to make it past Q3 for the eighth consecutive race.

The Brazilian will start from 18th position.

"Unfortunately qualifying did not work out for us today with traffic costing me an improved grid position," he said.

"On my second run I was stuck behind Heidfeld, which compromised my lap, and then on the last run Alonso spun ahead of me and there was a yellow flag which meant I was unable to improve in the last sector.

"It's a shame because I would have improved my qualifying performance."