Honda baffled by Button tyre problem

The Briton, who has established himself this season as one of the best drivers in the wet, was able to keep touch with the leading pack in the early stages of the race.

But his car suddenly started experiencing excessive rear tyre wear and, after losing pace, the team had to bring his first pitstop forward to as early as they could to help the situation.

That change compromised his race and, although he eventually recovered to finish fourth, the team were well aware that they could have done even better.

Team boss Nick Fry said: "We simply at this stage don't understand what happened, because we ended up with two identical cars that had started the race with tyres that had had an identical amount of running on them with identical as far as we could see settings.

"One set of rear tyres lasted two stints because we didn't change Rubens', and the other rear tyres were completely treadless after eight laps. We have no explanation for that.

"We had no choice but to bring Jenson in. He could see in his mirrors that he had no tread and he told us on the radio.

"It is unfortunate because although he got back to fourth at the end of the day, he might have been able to do even better if he had not had that problem."