Button lifts Honda's spirits at home

The British driver, who has scored Honda's two points this year, took full advantage of the wet conditions during today's session to qualify in seventh place, which will be sixth after a penalty for Williams' Nico Rosberg.

It was only the third time Button managed to qualify in the top ten in the season.

"I love these wet conditions," admitted the Briton. "A really good qualifying session today and I am obviously pleased that we put in a strong performance at our home race and in front of all the Honda fans here at Fuji.

"They were pretty tough conditions out there with the track getting greasy towards the end and it was difficult to know which tyres to be on.

"The team did a great job in deciding our strategy and we definitely got the best of the car in Q1 and Q2. The third session was more difficult as we were running our race fuel levels but I'm happy to have qualified seventh but be starting from sixth on the grid tomorrow.

"The driver can really make a difference in these conditions so we will be hoping for a wet race as we have a great starting position and there is everything to play for at this end of the grid.

"I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow and if it is wet then we have a chance to score some points."

Rubens Barrichello was unable to match his teammate's pace, the Brazilian already going out in the first session after missing the cut.

"I am very frustrated to have lost the chance to go into the second qualifying session by only 0.1sec today," he said. "The car was capable of a lot more performance in these wet conditions. Nevertheless I am happy for the team as Jenson did a good job today.

"It will be a challenging race from here but this track does have some overtaking opportunities so I will put up a good fight to do my best in the team's home race."