Honda duo say car not capable of more

Although both drivers made it to the second part of qualifying, neither got close to the top ten, with Barrichello having to settle for 15th position, one place ahead of Button.

Both men admitted that's the best they could have expected.

"This morning I had a few problems with the aerodynamic set-up of the car but this improved a little for qualifying," said Barrichello.

"The qualifying session itself was straightforward enough but I am getting the most from the car as it is right now and unfortunately that is 15th position. As always we will be looking for any possibilities to improve during the race."

A downbeat Button added: "We've qualified roughly where we have done for the past two races, and as we have acknowledged, that is as quick as the car goes right now.

"In Q1 I had a problem with the front wing. My first option (soft) tyre run was quite good and then during the next run on the option we lost masses of front downforce and at every corner I was locking up the fronts.

"I kept moving further rearwards on the brake bias but it didn't really help. In Q2 we tried a different front wing but it didn't improve things. I think we got the best from the car again today so it's down to what we can do in the race now."