• Spanish Grand Prix - FP2

Button not happy with balance

Jenson Button is not entirely happy with the updates McLaren © Getty Images

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• Report:
• Webber pips Hamilton in second practice
  

• Race:
• Spanish Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Martin Whitmarsh

• Teams:
• McLaren

Jenson Button is not happy with the balance of his car after Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, admitting he is "struggling with the rear-end".

Button set the fourth fastest time of the afternoon session but was 0.679 seconds slower than his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in second. McLaren has brought a raft of upgrades to its car this weekend, but Button, who favours a neutral balance in the car, admitted he was still refining it to suit his style.

"This morning was spent running through the new systems on the car; this afternoon was the time to push a bit harder and get a proper feel for things," he said. "I'm not particularly happy with the balance - I'm struggling with the rear-end, which isn't something I like - but I'm going to work to improve that overnight."

Button said qualifying is his main concern.

"There is more pace in the car, we've just got to unleash it and find a balance that I like. The longer run was reasonable, even if we got a slightly different result than we expected. But it's all good information and I think we can get a good balance for the race - now I need to focus on sorting out the rear-end for qualifying."

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said the balance was also an issue for Lewis Hamilton, but on the whole the team had made some significant progress.

"While neither Lewis nor Jenson were completely happy with the balance of their cars, it seems as if we've made some positive progress," he said. "Inevitably, we still have a significant amount of data to sift through this evening, but we feel confident that we can take a further step in the right direction for tomorrow. All in all, a positive day."

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