• Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying

Podium will be difficult - Button

ESPN Staff
November 3, 2012 « Maldonado confident of strong race | Alonso 'squeezed all of the performance out of the car' »
Jenson Button will start from sixth on the grid © Sutton Images
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Jenson Button thinks it will be tough for him to fight for a podium from fifth on the grid at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after he struggled for pace in qualifying.

Button's time in Q3 was 0.660s slower than his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and he was at a loss to explain the gap in performance.

Asked if he could challenge for a podium on Sunday (before he was promoted a place due to Sebastian Vettel's exclusion from the results), Button said: "It's not going to be easy, no. But it's definitely the aim to get some good points for the team.

"It was a tough qualifying because all weekend I've been very happy with the car and the paced has been good, but in qualifying on both sets of tyres I just didn't have the balance. Very strange but hopefully I'll make up for it tomorrow."

He added that he was particularly disappointed with his pace on the medium compound tyres.

"Especially on the prime tyre, I was really surprised by how far off I was. All weekend I've been very strong on both tyres, but especially the prime. Very strange."

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