Front row start for Button

Jenson Button will start tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix from the front row of the grid following a sensational performance during this afternoon’s qualifying session. The Honda Racing F1 Team driver drove a faultless lap around the 5.4-kilometre Sepang track to be just 0.1s shy of pole position.

Rubens Barrichello, by contrast, had a troublesome qualifying. The Brazilian set the 12th fastest time of the session, but an engine change after free practice this morning means that he will drop 10 places on the grid, as per the FIA regulations.

This is Jenson’s first front row starting position since last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, and he was very happy with the performance of his RA106. The handling of the car was much improved over yesterday, and he set the fastest time of qualifying’s session two.

In the final 20-minute battle for pole position, Jenson looked set for the top spot until he was pipped in the final seconds by Giancarlo Fisichella. However, he remains hopeful of going one-place better in tomorrow’s 56-lap race, at this, the track where he scored his first podium finish in 2004.

Jenson Button “The team has done a fantastic job to get us on the front row of the grid and I have to thank them for that. Things were looking a lot less positive yesterday when we were really struggling to find a good set-up. A lot of hard work was done overnight and tomorrow looks promising, but let’s wait and see. This is always a tough race but I’m certainly looking forward to it.”

Rubens Barrichello“This has been quite a difficult day for me. I was still unhappy with the set-up of the car in free practice then we encountered an engine problem and had to change. It was obviously very disappointing for me to know that I would lose 10 places on the grid but we also decided to change chassis to see if this would give us a better chance for the race. I’m starting from towards the back of the grid which means tomorrow will be tough but I’ll give it my best shot and see what the race brings.”