Button says start cost him podium

The Honda driver was starting from third place on the grid, but a poor start cost him several positions that he had to make up.

Button, a pre-race favourite for Honda, finished fourth and is still seeking his first Grand Prix win after 101 starts.

"Had I not had such a bad start then this could have been a great race for us," said Button. "The pace of the car was absolutely there but the strategy didn't pan out because I lost places off the start and wasn't where we had planned to be at the pitstops.

"We may not have a podium but we have a very competitive car and if you look at the lap times when we weren't in traffic we were genuinely as quick as anyone out there.  I think we go to Malaysia feeling extremely positive. 

"If we can address the clutch issue which caused the problem with the start we will be able to fight even harder with the competition."

The day, however, was more disappointing for teammate Rubens Barrichello, who in his debut with Honda endured a poor race after losing a gear early on.

Barrichello finished down in 15th.

"It's a disappointing way to finish my first race for the team but in the early stages we saw a taste of our potential," he said. "Jenson and I had a great race with each other early on which I'm sure got a few people excited.

"Soon after though I knew we had a gearbox problem and I had to try to race with one gear missing.  I was unable to push and had no chance of a points finish, so it wasn't a good way for me to spend the race.

"We know that the pace is there so we just have to resolve our problems for next weekend when I'm sure we will have a much better race."