Button plays down slow start

Button, who scored his maiden and so far only Formula One win at the Hungaroring last year, finished the afternoon session in 16th position.

The Briton, however, was unable to complete a proper lap with new tyre because of the late yellow flags.

"We have had a reasonable day today," said Button."We tested a few new things which seem to have made a small improvement to the balance of the car and also the laptime. It started spitting with rain just before the end of the afternoon session but we had done enough by then to achieve a good tyre comparison.

"There were two yellow flags on my new tyre run at the end of the session, one for Hamilton and one for Massa, so unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good clean run. As a result we are a little unsure of where we are over one lap but the long run pace is looking okay."

Teammate Rubens Barrichello finished down in 18th position after struggling with the rear grip of his car.

"As is usual for a Friday there was a lot of traffic today," Barrichello said. "The car was a lot more competitive in the first session this morning than in the second practice.

"We struggled with a lack of rear grip in the afternoon so we need to look into that and find a solution. Both our cars covered a lot of laps so this gives us a lot of information to work with for the rest of the weekend."