Button Rues 'Most Disappointing' Race

Button let the frustrations of his early exit from the Malaysia event get the better of him in an interview live on television channel ITV, where he claimed that BAR had made a step backwards in every area following their successful 2004 campaign.

But having had time to reflect on the Sepang performance, which marked the first anniversary of his maiden podium finish, Button clearly showed no signs of being less disappointed with what had happened - and admitted that it was one of the worst experiences of his time in F1.

"It's not good enough really," he said. "To have the pace and poor reliability is very disappointing, considering we put an engine in for this race and everyone else is running the second race with their engine. There's a lot of work to be done before the next race.

"It's frustrating for everyone in the team. They've worked so hard, especially here (in Malaysia). Heidfeld was behind us, and he finished third! So it's probably the most disappointing race of my career, because we had pace. This shouldn't be happening at this time of the year."

Button's pace in the early laps had given him every indication that he would have seriously challenged for a podium finish - especially after easily slicing past Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren.

"At the start I got past both Red Bulls into Turn One, and then I got Kimi on the start of the second lap. I was coming down the main straight and I looked in the mirrors and saw Kimi move out of the way from behind my car.

"I noticed smoke coming out of the back and I braked a bit earlier, but even so it was like skating on ice. And that was it really."

Honda has vowed to do everything it can to resolve the oil leak problems that caused the failures on both Button and teammate Anthony Davidson's car.