Button: 'I need to improve in qualifying'

The Englishman has had the better of the Italian in races this year, out-scoring the former Jordan driver 13 points to seven in the 15 grands prix so far. However, it's been a different story in qualifying, where Trulli has held the upper hand, starting ahead of the Englishman 11 times to four. In fact Button has outqualified Trulli just once since the Austrian GP back in May.

The gap between the two is rarely huge, but Button feels that Trulli has done a better job in extracting the last few tenths from the R202 on Saturday afternoons.

"Jarno is pretty good in qualifying," he said. "In the last run I can never get it together. I don't know if I push too hard, but he can brake a bit later and have the lap time while I brake later and don't have the lap times, I don't know why.

"I think it will get better with time, but I don't know. Maybe I think about it too much. It is nice, but I would rather have points - points mean prizes. I would rather have points than be ahead in qualifying, but I would rather have both."

It was a similar scenario for Button in 2001, with Giancarlo Fisichella coming out on top in the qualifying head-to-head 13:4. Strangely, Button's most competitive showing came in his first season of F1, when he outqualified Ralf Schumacher six times in 16 attempts.