Button takes 10th, but denies pressure

Button's recent performances have been surrounded by speculation that team boss Flavio Briatore has been trying to unload him to another team. In public Briatore has said the Brit needed to "pull his finger out".

The 21-year-old outpaced team mate Giancarlo Fisichella around the 2.607-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the second race in succession. Benetton has only qualified higher once this year, when Fisichella put his car eighth on the grid at Spa.

"The only pressure I get is from myself," said Button, who qualified two slots and almost 0.2 seconds ahead of Fisichella. "I want to perform as well as possible and do the best job I can. Tenth on the grid is a good position to start from for the race. Hopefully I can do something at the start and at the first corner - but make it around this time.

"Renault and Benetton have done a fantastic job improving the car. It was hard at the start of the year, but everything is going well now and looking promising for next year. I've also improved a lot mechanically on the car. It's all positive."