Struggling Button Vows to Keep Working

Jenson Button said on Friday that he and his struggling Benetton team are working hard to alter a quickly deteriorating season at the wrong end of the grid. Button was the slowest driver in the field after Friday's practice for the Austrian Grand Prix and the British driver highlighted that "lots" of areas of the car need improving.

"There's lots of different areas that need to be sorted out I think," said Button after his Renault engine blew on Friday. "It's not just the engine, there are other areas. I can't obviously say which ones. But we've just got to keep pushing and pushing. I know everyone is doing the best they can back at the factory, at Renault and also back at Benetton.

"Me and Giancarlo (Fisichella) are on the back row behind the Minardis. They've been our fighting companions this year. It's been an interesting battle at the back there, but I think I'd rather have it near the front."

Button said he hopes that the team will resolve the car's problems by the two-third stage of the season but he ruled out the possibility of getting a podium finish this season.

He added: "We've just got to do the best job that we can and get on with it. I don't think we're going to be getting podiums this year but I think we'll be jumping quite a way up the grid."