McLaren’s Jenson Button says his car “feels the best it has all year” in Abu Dhabi as the Briton went on to qualify 12th, narrowly missing out on the top-ten shoot-out.
Whilst team-mate Fernando Alonso failed to escape Q1, partly in thanks to a puncture spoiling his final flying lap, Button will start ahead of both Lotus, Sauber and Manor-Marussia cars, as well as the out-of-place Sebastian Vettel.
“The car feels the best it has all year – that is always promising at the end of the season,” Button said. “We tried a few new things this weekend that have worked, so I’m very happy with that.
“Going into qualifying we thought we’d be 14th and 15th, so it’s better than expected,” he added. “This is not a strong circuit for us, so to be 12th here is good.
“It means that we’ve improved, so it’s nice going into the winter with a positive feeling.”
Button doesn’t however see himself being able to climb up the order on Sunday, but fully expects his team-mate to finish closer.
“I’m not positive on scoring points. It’s going to be tough for us,” he said. “I’d like to say we are charging forward but it’s going to be very difficult.
“I’m sure Fernando will be the next car behind me after a couple of laps.”
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