Button says he did the best he could

The British driver, who had already admitted before the weekend that he expected to struggle for pace, was unable to make it into he final shootout, having to settle for a poor 14th position.

Button, on pole position in Melbourne last year, said he had done everything he could with Honda's package.

"It hasn't been a good weekend for us so far," admitted Button. "Today it was difficult to judge how hard to push the tyres. At the start of the lap I was getting understeer because the tyres were not up to temperature, then later in the lap I was getting oversteer as the rears were going off, which just shows the issues that we have.

"I got the best out of the car today and right now we are where we are. We'll obviously do what we can for the race, then we have some work to do to start addressing the issues we have identified."

Honda's dismal day was completed by Rubens Barrichello missing the cut to move into the second session. The Brazilian will start the race from 16th place.

"I was expecting that we would compete in the second session today so I'm disappointed by our performance in qualifying," he said. "I had a problem right from the start with the car bottoming out much more than it has been at any other point over the weekend.

"That is something we have to look at for the race tomorrow. It was very close at the end of the first session with so many cars fighting to get through but unfortunately we just couldn't make it this time."

Both Honda drivers qualified behind the Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson, whose team use the Japanese engines.