Button: No need for damage limitation

The championship leader only qualified eighth, having been kept back in the Brawn garage initially while parts were changed on his car following the incident in which his team-mate Rubens Barichello's car shed a suspension component and triggered Felipe Massa's horrific crash. This meant that Button only managed one qualifying run in Q3 and had to carry additional fuel.

With his title rivals at Red Bull Racing second and third on the grid behind lightly-fuelled polesitter Fernando Alonso's Renault, the results appeared to be a further blow for Button after RBR's recent one-two finishes.

But the Briton insisted that his strategy can still allow him to score well in the race.

"I am guessing we will be [pitting] around lap 24, where the lead cars are about [lap] 18 - and Alonso is probably about 13!" he said.

"That made the car very difficult to drive with that much fuel on board, so we want a nice hot Sunday and with a good hot day we can have a good result if we are running that long in the first stint.

"Our car is very good at looking after its tyres, so it is a real pity that we are so far back. I didn't think we had the pace to get pole position here, but our race pace is very good I think.

"So that makes it a little bit difficult for us, being so far back in P8. I also think the first car on the grid is looking at doing a three-stop, and maybe some other cars, because they are worried about tyre degradation.

"It is not damage limitation at all. We can still have a good day, and I think winning the race will be pretty difficult from P8 but we can still have a good race for sure."

He reckons a potentially chaotic start could play into his hands.

"The good thing is that we have got a lot of fuel on board," said Button. "I think if you are running short then you have got to be massively aggressive at Turn 1, because if those KERS cars get past you then you are screwed.

"So, I think it is important for us to get through Turn 1 in a reasonable position but we don't have to make up five places on the grid - which is a good thing.

"There is going to be a lot of action up front with Lewis, Kimi [Raikkonen] and [Heikki] Kovalainen coming through, so I think there will be cars everywhere, hopefully we can pick off one or two and we will be in a good position."