Secret to Button's success revealed

The 20-year-old admitted he was still jet lagged until today, despite arriving in Japan last Monday. But in qualifying, he outgunned Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher on his first visit to the unique figure-of-eight circuit.

"I'm really surprised to be this high up the grid," he admitted. "I've never seen this circuit before and I would have been happy to be within half a second of Ralf."

Instead he finds himself a place ahead of his teammate and a tenth of a second quicker.

"I reckon it's down to the fact that I got a good night's sleep. I got here on Monday and still haven't got into the right sleeping pattern. I still woke up a couple of times but at least I slept well.

"I'm getting to know the car far better and where its limits are now," continued the young Englishman who will drive for Benetton next year. "Before I was not quite there in practice. Let's see if we can get another points result. It would be nice because I haven't had one for a couple of races."

Button added cheekily: "At least I shouldn't have to contend with Jarno Trulli again because he's down in 15th place!"

Click here for full qualifying results.