Jenson Button sure German Grand Prix will be much stronger for McLaren than its qualifying suggests

Button and team-mate Lewis Hamilton were seventh and eighth quickest in the rain-hit Q3, having struggled to make their wet tyres work.

But having concentrated on his race set-up in the morning's mostly dry practice session, where he posted the slowest time, Button thinks the McLaren is in very good shape for the race.

"I definitely think we should aim for [a podium] and I think we should aim even higher, in dry conditions we have made some good improvements to the car aerodynamically and mechanically and it is just in the wet where we struggle with tyre temperature," said Button.

"The car feels good in the dry and I have done a lot of high-fuel running so we have a lot of information other people don't.

"On Friday we did three long runs and today I did two long runs so I feel we are more ready to race than anyone," he added.

Despite his optimism for the race Button says he is still unsure why he cannot make the tyres work in wet conditions.

"The tyre isn't working, it is just skating and you spend the whole time so fearful that it is just going to send you off into the goonies," he said.

"It wasn't very good really, just really struggling with the same issues we always have in these conditions. We just can't get the tyres working and I've driven F1 cars for 12 or 13 years and I know what it is like to drive in the wet and I know what it feels like when you can't get the tyres working."