Button Supports Sunday Qualifying Idea

Briton Jenson Button has urged race officials to postpone qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix after claiming it was very hard to drive in today's practice.

Typhoon "Ma-on" is forecast to hit central Japan this weekend and race officials are due to decide whether qualifying takes place. Button supported the idea of running qualifying on Sunday morning.

"Definitely, there's no question about it," said the Briton of postponing tomorrow's practice and qualifying sessions. "You have no visibility. Every corner you get to you are on a knife edge because there is so much aqua-planing.

"You wouldn't want to race or test in those conditions, given the choice, as we had quite a bit of aquaplaning but at least we could keep it on the track. As we got further into the second session though it was really wet, the circuit was drenched and it was very dangerous.

"It looks like it will be just as bad tomorrow - if not worse - so I would definitely support a move to run qualifying on Sunday morning, when the rain is expected to ease up a little."

The BAR driver finished down in 20th position, while local hero Takuma Sato was eighth quickest.

"We could do nothing about the weather today but it meant the conditions were very difficult for everyone," said the Japanese driver. "It's frustrating and I feel so sorry for the fans that have been sitting here in the rain all day and have not seen much action from the cars.

"When you were following another car, you really couldn't see anything in front of you which can be very dangerous. Unfortunately if the weather continues, we will have no chance of qualifying tomorrow and I really hope that on Sunday we will see better weather to allow the race to go ahead."