Button hoping for higher temperatures

Overnight rains and cloudy skies during today's practice sessions caused the teams to struggle to get their cars dialled in properly as they had expected higher temperatures.

Several drivers complained about tyre graining and poor balance, and Button was amongst them.

"The temperatures here are much cooler than we expected which has made it a tough day for everyone," said Honda driver Button, 14th quickest today.

"The tyres that we have for this race just aren't designed to be operating in this temperature window so we have to hope that the rest of the weekend gets warmer, then we can start to work the tyres properly.

"All the drivers had the same problem, we're seeing a lot of graining which makes it difficult to set the car up properly. It wasn't about going fast today but saving the tyres and looking for a good balance.

"Still we were able to complete a lot of laps so we have some good information to look through before tomorrow."

Teammate Rubens Barrichello, 13th fastest, added: "It was quite a normal Friday today really except for the weather," said Barrichello. "The track will be very different on Saturday and Sunday but we had a reasonably competitive car today and should be able to adapt to that."

The team's third driver Anthony Davidson was fifth quickest.