Honda duo hopeful of strong race pace

The team enjoyed another promising qualifying performance, with Barrichello posting the fourth quickest time, two places ahead of Button.

Honda have so far failed to translate their qualifying pace into strong race performances, but both drivers are hopeful they will be competitive tomorrow following a promising Saturday practice.

"I'm very pleased with 4th place on the grid," said the Brazilian. "It's another demonstration of how good the car and the team is and that we are making real progress.

"We now just have to keep our feet on the ground and focus on the race because I think we have a good strategy and we have shown good pace in free practice this morning. I'm looking forward to it."

Button, who for the first time this season failed to qualified in the top three, added: "I couldn't get a good balance, which is pretty normal for me around here. The car just didn't feel good so I wasn't feeling comfortable.

"I locked up in turn one which didn't help my last lap time, but it didn't cost much; it probably wouldn't even have been a place.

"I think we showed this morning that our race pace is there and we found a nice balance for the long runs, so we'll just have to wait and see what the race brings."