Jenson Button says low-fuel pace needs improving ahead of Malaysian GP qualifying

As he demonstrated so emphatically in Australia, the Briton says that leading into the first corner can be key to a good race, and that securing pole position is therefore the aim for tomorrow.

After losing time to an oil leak in the first practice session, and then focussing more on long runs in the second, Button says he still has a few issues on low fuel runs.

"On lower fuel [there is] still work to do to be competitive for qualifying," he admitted. "The short runs I'm not completely happy but there are things we can do still and I'm sure we can make progress overnight and for qualifying.

"I'd love to be on pole - it makes life a lot easier and is the key to a good race. You're not always going to get a better start than your team-mate, so starting in a good position is very important.

"We obviously want a good race car because that's where we get the win, and a lot of work for today has been on the race because we know how tough it will be for the cars and tyres.

"You make life easier for yourself though if you put it on the front row or even pole, so you still have to think about qualifying set-up. We're doing a lot of work to make sure we have a fast car over one lap."

Button said he was more satisfied with his long run work, which was also a window into how tough the race would be.

"The afternoon went pretty well - we did good running on both sets of tyres, and ran the medium tyre for a long run and it seemed alright.

"I think we're all pretty good [at nursing the tyres] but unless the circuit improves a great deal could be quite a few stops out there.

"It's tough on both [sets of] tyres I think around here with the humidity and heat, the race will be tough for all of us.

"I think we did some pretty good running though and we have a pretty good understanding of the tyre now, so hopefully we'll make improvements

"Everyone enjoys a win but you have to get your head right and get down to business again the next weekend. The boys have a smile on their faces and hopefully we can keep that going this weekend."