Jenson Button said he was pleased with Honda's encouraging performance in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Brit "in not too bad a position"
Jenson Button said he was pleased with Honda's encouraging performance in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite narrowly missing out on the final session at Sepang.
The Englishman had looked set to edge into the top-10 session for the first time this season as he sat in 10th place with the second session drawing to a close.
However, Button was then knocked out by Timo Glock's Toyota and although he made one last effort to improve, his final flying lap fell short.
Button will therefore start Sunday's race from 11th on the grid after finishing just six one-thousandths of a second behind Renault's Fernando Alonso at the conclusion of the second session.
Nevertheless, Button - who was fourth quickest in Friday's second free practice session - remained upbeat as Honda continue to make steady progress having shown little form during the bulk of pre-season testing.
"It was good, I was happy with qualifying," he said.
"I didn't have the same performance as yesterday, we went in one direction and it didn't work out so we changed it back for qualifying.
"To get P10 was very difficult. I went two-and-a-half tenths quicker during the second run and got my act together early.
"I ended up P11, which is where the car is. I'm happy with that if you look back to where we were three weeks ago.
"We're there on merit and half a tenth is a lot here. I did a very good lap and looking at the weather, I'm not in too bad a position."
Challenge
Button also revealed that he felt more comfortable running the harder tyres during qualifying, despite most competitors setting faster times with the softer option.
"The main challenge was choosing between the prime and the option tyre," he added.
"I couldn't get the option tyre to work so I ran on the primes for most of the session.
"The feeling was better but everybody else was on the options and when they're putting that much rubber down, I had to give it a go."
