• Brazilian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Button blames poor balance

Jenson Button struggled with his car's balance © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Brazilian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button

• Teams:
• McLaren

Jenson Button blamed a poor balance in his McLaren for failing to make the final session of qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Button has been struggling with the set-up of his McLaren all weekend and said his chances of making the top ten were dealt a final blow when he pushed too hard and ruined his tyres.

"It's been a pretty tough weekend - I've been struggling to find a balance," he explained. "The front wheels have been locking quite a lot [under braking], and it's therefore been quite hard to slow the car down. That's been my biggest issue, and it was no exception in qualifying.

"Having said that, the car was better in qualifying than it had been all through practice beforehand. We'd fitted new Intermediates at the end of Q2, and my first lap was okay but not quite good enough. Then I damaged my tyres a bit too much on my second lap, and I couldn't get a decent time out of them after that. So I got squeezed out of Q3 at the last second."

Button said he was disappointed that he would not be able to help team-mate Hamilton from 11th on the grid.

"It's frustrating to be quite a way behind Lewis on tomorrow's starting grid, because I'll consequently have less chance to support him during the race," Button admitted. "It's disappointing not to get into the top 10 actually - but, then again, I've started from farther back than P11 here at Interlagos in the past and have gone on to drive a good race, so let's see what happens.

"Let's put it this way: my aim is to have some fun tomorrow!"

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