Podium delight for Button

Button inherited third when Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya suffered late race gearbox and hydraulic problems, but did well to overcome Renault's Jarno Trulli to take the final spot on the podium.

"It's fantastic to be on the podium again so soon after Malaysia," said Button. "It was a great first race here and a brilliant result for the team. I didn't get a very good start and I was stuck behind Ralf in turn one, so I dropped back to eighth. In the first stint I was suffering quite badly from understeer so I was losing a lot of time in the high-speed corners.

"At the first stop we made a front wing adjustment and after that the car ran really well. It's great to be lying third in the drivers' championship at this stage in the season. We're still only three races into our relationship with Michelin so we're still learning a lot about the package but it's really starting to come together now. We'll be focusing very much on what we now need to do to take that next step forward."

BAR technical director Geoff Willis said: "The cars performed well in the race and Jenson was able to race the Williams throughout, eventually benefiting from our pace and reliability. We now go to the next test to work on engine and chassis developments for the next round at Imola."