F1: Button Confused By Loss Of Front Grip

Formula 1

F1: Button Confused By Loss Of Front Grip

Jenson Button expected to fare better in Valencia qualifying...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted June 23, 2012 Valencia (ESP)

Jenson Button qualified ninth in Valencia. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Jenson Button was at a loss to explain his disappointing performance in Valencia qualifying after he found himself with no front grip on his crucial final run in Q3.

Button ended up in ninth, while teammate Lewis Hamilton jumped up to second on his last lap.

“For Q3, I put a new set of tires on,” said Button. “And as soon as I exited the pits I was like, ‘Wow, I don’t know what’s going on here. I’ve got no front grip at all.’ I don’t understand. It’s frustrating, because I was really happy with the car all day.

“The first run in Q3 I was second quickest on an old set of tires. You expect to go quicker on a new set, but I didn’t; I just had no front grip, locking up the fronts everywhere, and that’s something we really worked on overnight from yesterday to today, and we improved the car a lot, which is really good.

“But you get to Q3, and I’ve suddenly got no front grip at all. It’s difficult to understand where that’s gone. I don’t think it’s a circuit issue, I don’t think it changed that much, so it’s difficult to work out why suddenly I didn’t have any front end.”

Button is not very hopeful about being able to make up ground on Sunday.

“It’s going to be difficult," he said. "It’s not a place that’s famous for its fantastic overtaking maneuvers. There’s only one DRS zone, as well, this year. I think we’re pretty much stuck with what we’ve got at the moment.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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