Button On Pole In Australia
Britain’s Jenson Button grabbed his third career pole position at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
The Honda driver set a time of one minute 25.229 seconds to beat Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.406 seconds.
World champion Fernando Alonso was third in his Renault while McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was fourth.
Michael Schumacher was eliminated in the second session and will start 10th on the grid while his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa spun off.
It was Button’s first pole since last year’s Canadian Grand Prix and the first pole for a full Honda team since 1968.
“The whole day’s been manic with the weather,” Button said. “Rain, traffic, accidents. It was mad for us trying to get a lap time in.
“We really struggled with grip. So to finally get this pole position is fantastic.
“Honda’s done a fantastic job over the last few weeks and it’s good to repay them with a pole position.”
Alonso said he could have beaten Button had he not been held up on his best lap, but was nevertheless confident of taking his second win of the year, and extending his championship lead.
“I am pleased to be third because this is my best qualifying position so far this year,” the Spaniard said.
“Even so, we still didn’t achieve our maximum this afternoon because I had (Nick) Heidfeld’s BMW in front of me during my quick lap and he made a mistake on turn 13.
“That meant I caught him very quickly and lost about half a second in the last two corners.
“The car felt very good, though, and I pleased with the consistent handling balance.
“In race conditions I am confident we will be extremely competitive.”
McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya ruined his chances of a late surge for pole when he spun with just two minutes remaining and finished fifth.
Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher gave an improved performance to claim sixth, one ahead of local hero Mark Webber in his Williams.
Seven-time world champion Schumacher was caught out by rain and missed the cut by just 0.004secs.
He was moved up one place because of a 10-place grid penalty for BMW-Sauber’s Jacques Villeneuve, but could not explain his lack of pace.
“I can’t really explain it,” said the seven-time world champion. “We were just not fast enough.
“If I knew the reasons why, we would have changed things before. I am not happy. Tomorrow is very hard to judge.
“We need to find the speed or there’s not a lot we can do. We need to change things. It will be very difficult.”
