Honda still hopeful of positive result

Barrichello will start from 16th and Button 19th for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix, and both felt that they could have achieved more on a day where Giancarlo Fisichella was able to qualify his Force India as high as 12th.

Despite the disappointment, team principal Ross Brawn insisted that the RA108 could still perform well in the race if the conditions suited it.

"Things didn't work out for us in qualifying today but we are certainly hoping for inclement weather tomorrow," Brawn said.

"Our car is not too bad in the wet and so if we get on top of the problems we experienced today we should still be able to take advantage, despite our positions on the grid."

According to Barrichello, Q2 would have been possible were it not for a mix-up with tyres.

"I'm very disappointed as we had the opportunity to have a good qualifying session today," said the Brazilian.

"Unfortunately there was a miscommunication on the radio as I wanted to stay on the existing tyres with more front wing when I came in. However the team changed to a new set of tyres as they were concerned about the temperatures and took off some wing, and this set did not work as well for me.

"It's a shame as I think we could have progressed into Q2 and had a much better qualifying session."

On the other side of the garage, Button said that his car was not coping well with the combination of a wet track and low downforce levels.

"We were expecting these conditions to help us, so I am surprised that we have ended up so far back in qualifying today," he admitted.

"The biggest problem seems to be that we can't get the car and tyres to work in the wet conditions with very low downforce.

"The first set of tyres that we ran seemed to be working okay and I was running just outside the top ten, however on the new set that we used for my last three quick laps the car was just undriveable. It had no balance and I couldn't find any grip, so every time I hit the brakes, the front and rear wheels would lock."