• Monaco Grand Prix - Qualifying

McLaren its 'own worst enemy' - Button

Jenson Button was angry at a loss of power that cost him his final run in Q3 © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button

• Teams:
• McLaren

An angry Jenson Button said McLaren cost itself the chance of its best qualifying of the season after a problem in Q3 in Monaco.

Button had looked competitive throughout most of qualifying, but after leaving the pits to start his final run in Q3 Button suffered a loss of power and couldn't improve on his time. Having expected to qualify on the front three rows, Button said starting from ninth behind his team-mate would ruin his chances of a good race and said the positive parts of the weekend were no longer relevant.

"It was a great qualifying session, I don't think I was outside the top five," Button said. "I think we did a good job in terms of getting out on the right tyres at the right time. The pace was good, it felt like I was driving well, but it doesn't really matter when you have an issue at the end.

"I haven't thought about [the race] yet. Being sort of up in the top five or being ninth is a massive difference, and when you want to do your own strategy and ideas in the race you can't if your team-mate is in front of you. So it's going to be a tough afternoon."

Button even went as far as to label his McLaren team as "our own worst enemy" after its struggles so far.

"We're our own worst enemy it seems. When you eventually get the car working well - and I think we've done everything right this weekend - then we have an issue like that in Q3, so it's not easy at the moment."

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