With Lewis Hamilton taking a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change, many expected Jenson Button to seal a first McLaren pole position in China. Instead, the 2010 winner left the pits too late and finds himself starting only fifth.
“In Q1, we went out on the softer tyre and put a lap on it when most of the other teams didn’t,” Button explains. “In Q2, I felt I had too much understeer, so we made a few adjustments for Q3. However, I could feel the temperature dropping in that final session: I think we just went out a little too late.
“Of course, that’s a little bit disappointing, but our race pace seems to be very good. It’s going to be tricky to get heat into the front tyres if it’s cold tomorrow, though – but that’s not unusual for me. But that’s the way it is and I hope we can have a good race from fifth on the grid.”
Like team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Button still targets the win.
“Our aim will be to go for victory,” he begins to conclude. “That won’t be easy, but we ought to be as quick or quicker than most of the cars in front of us in the race. The unusual one is Kamui (Kobayashi), who seems to have very good long-run pace.”
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:35.121 | 11 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:35.626 | 14 |
| 3. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:35.691 | 13 |
| 4. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 01:35.784 | 13 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:35.898 | 15 |
| 6. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:36.191 | 16 |
| 7. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:36.290 | 14 |
| 8. | S. Perez | Sauber | 01:36.524 | 17 |
| 9. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:36.622 | 17 |
| 10. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | no time | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Jenson Button | |||
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| More Jenson Button photos | |||
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