Button struggling with car handling

Button struggled with the handling of his car during the whole day, the Briton admitting it was hard to drive the RA108 properly.

In the end Button finished two seconds off the pace in 19th position.

"It has been a tough day for us today and we need to fully understand why that was in order to make progress for the remainder of the weekend," said Button. "The car felt unbalanced and was difficult to drive in both sessions.

"I really struggled with the rear end which was causing problems with snap oversteer and we just lacked any form of pace. So there is a lot of work to do before we can feel confident with the car for qualifying and the race."

The Briton's teammate Rubens Barrichello had a more encouraging day after posting the 13th fastest time.

The Brazilian, however, admitted it was hard to tell where Honda stood in terms of performance.

"We have been trying to make the car work with very low levels of downforce today, in order to be able to run at a competitive pace," he said. "We have achieved a better set-up over the course of the day, although the rear is still lacking a little bit of stability at the moment.

"We don't know where we stand yet for the remainder of the weekend, however I am happy with the progress that we made today."