Second half of US Grand Prix was boring, McLaren's Button says

The McLaren driver started 19th but made up eight places on an impressive opening lap to run 11th, and ultimately finished ninth.

He started on super-softs tyres and then switched to mediums for the next two stints, which meant he had to manage his rubber across 24- and then 25-lap runs at Austin.

"The second half was boring, but the first half was good, good fights in the beginning," said the 2009 world champion.

"In the second half, I was looking after the tyres, making sure you can judge the gap behind and trying to save the tyres to the end of the race to catch Checo [Sergio Perez].

"I was two-and-a-half seconds behind at the end so I didn't quite judge it right, and we just didn't quite have the pace."

Points became a realistic possibility when Button safely navigated the opening lap without picking up any damage.

He passed Esteban Gutierrez for 10th on lap three, and ran in that position before pitting for medium tyres on lap 10.

After the first pitstop cycle had played out, Button moved back into 10th on lap 20, with a move on Daniil Kvyat.

A mistake during his third and final stop meant Perez got ahead and the rest of the race was quiet, with Kimi Raikkonen's retirement elevating Button into ninth.

"The start was a mess, we made up a lot of places, which is good, and then I made my way into the top 10," he said.

"Then my second pitstop I fluffed up a little bit so I lost the place to Checo but I think he would've got past anyway.

"I hit debris when I was fighting with Gutierrez and lost a lot of front end but I think it might have cleared.

"But the rubber build up on the front wing was unbelievable, which hurts your downforce a lot."

Button described the Austin weekend as "not a strong Saturday but a very strong Sunday" and called on McLaren to improve its performance in qualifying, after it "messed up" his timing in Q1.

"I think [the focus] is just sorting out Saturday's in terms of making bad decisions and qualifying close to the top 10," he said.

"Then we will have a lot more to fight with.

"[Getting into Q3] should've been easier here, but it wasn't.

"There is a lot of competition out there so it's going to be a tough one [in the remaining races]."