- Brazilian GP - Qualifying
Button stunned by fifth after 'disaster' Friday
Jenson Button says McLaren turned around a dire situation as he exceeded his own expectations to qualify fifth for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Button had complained McLaren was "nowhere" after Friday practice but qualified best of the rest behind Mercedes and Williams, who both were a class apart from the rest of the field. On Button's recommendation McLaren made some tweaks overnight and the 2009 world champion says they did the trick on Saturday.
"I'm just enjoying driving the car right now," Button said. "I wasn't on Friday; I hated driving the car on Friday! We've solved a lot of things we did on Friday, put it back to where it was before and moved a step in another direction. I'm happy with what we have and wet or dry tomorrow I think it's good - I'm happy with fifth.
"We had something on the car that was to help some issues that we've had. We've had a vibration for a little while and were just trying to get rid of it. It helped that but the car was pretty bad to drive. It destroyed the balance. I said 'do we want to go back?' and we did - and today the car has been working much better. After yesterday I didn't think that would be possible. I didn't think we'd be fifth on the grid and I don't think anyone in the team thought we would."
Button wants McLaren to get as close to Mercedes and Williams on Sunday in case there are any incidents out in front.
"The first four cars are too quick for us. If wer can stay fifth or stay close to the cars in front and see them at the end of the race it'll be a nice finish as this is all we have, this is our speed. If we'd got the best out of the car we might have been a tenth quicker but still nowhere near the front four. We'll see how it goes tomorrow but I think it's going to be a good battle I think from me back to tenth. The aim is to keep the pack behind and stay as close to the cars in front in case there's action; there can be between team-mates, so we want to be there to pounce if anything happens."
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