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Button bemused by lack of pace

Jenson Button was very nearly lapped by Pastor Maldonado in Spain, finishing 1m25s behind the race winner © Sutton Images

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Jenson Button admits he is concerned by a lack of race pace for McLaren after only scoring two points in last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Having been the fastest man in Friday practice, the weekend only got worse for Button who failed to make it in to Q3. In the race he was unable to make up much ground and eventually finished in ninth place, while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton - who had been excluded from pole position and started last - finished eighth. Despite team principal Martin Whitmarsh praising Button's attitude, Button told the Daily Mail that his biggest worry was how slow the car was in the race.

"It was a tough weekend, especially on Sunday," Button said. "The most important thing is to understand why I didn't have any pace over the weekend on low and high fuel. Even if qualifying doesn't go well, normally we can get some good points in the race, but I couldn't look after my tyres and I didn't have any pace. It's something that's a concern.

"Yes, Lewis did a fantastic job in qualifying, and the team did well to produce a car like that. In the race you can say Lewis again did a good job by finishing eighth, which he should be happy with, but still the pace isn't there. It was a worse weekend for me, but if you look at Lewis' pace in the race, I still don't think it's where you would expect us to be.

"My fastest lap of the race was 2.6secs slower than the quickest overall, which is just strange, and I don't understand why that is. And it wasn't one end of the car I struggled with, it was both. I've never been in a position like that. It was very extreme."

Button added that the one saving grace was that it wasn't only McLaren that was struggling for consistency.

"It's not just us. The Red Bulls did a better job at the weekend than us in terms of points, but still they weren't quick when you compare them to Williams, Sauber, Lotus and Ferrari. Five different teams winning five different races, we really don't know what's going on, and I think that's the same up and down the pit lane."

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