Button surprised by Honda's pace

The Japanese squad, aiming to bounce back from a dismal 2007 season, enjoyed a positive day, with Rubens Barrichello posting the 11th fastest time, two places ahead of Button.

Both drivers will move up a place thanks to a penalty to Toyota's Timo Glock.

The Briton admitted he could have done better had he put all his best sectors together, but he was still happy to see Honda take a step towards the sharp end of the grid.

"It was so frustrating, because the car was working well but I had a pretty rubbish couple of corners," Button told reporters after qualifying.

"In Turn Nine I ran wide and across the line, and the last corner I ran wide and ran across the grass, so considering the mistakes I made being in P12 makes me happy.

"We lost about four tenths, which is so annoying! So we would have been in the top ten, which is where the car just about deserves to be.

"It is a surprise really. We expected to move forward after the last test we did in Jerez and, although I didn't get it together. Rubens got it together today and he ended up P10. So it was a great job by the team, and a good base for things to come."

Button, however, is not getting carried away and reckons scoring points in tomorrow's race will not be easy.

"I am not going to talk about points. That is our aim, as soon as possible. But I would not say that is feasible here really," he said.

"I am sure some people are going to have reliability issues because it is the first race with the new gearboxes. But in terms of pure performance, I wouldn't say we would score points, no."