Button and Palmer at odds over Q1 incident

Button will start 19^th, despite showing top 10 pace throughout practice.

He also suffered because McLaren tried to get him through Q1 on soft-compound tyres, which meant he only got one shot on the supersoft at the end of the session. That is when he encountered Palmer at the final corner.

“We were eighth yesterday and ninth this morning, so the pace was good,” said Button. “But we just messed up with the timing again, it’s not the first time. Four cars to overtake in the last sector, and the last one obviously saw me really late and stayed on the racing line, so I had to outbrake him into the last corner.

“The last corner is so important to brake late, and carry speed into the corner, and you can’t do that if you’re off line. You don’t know what the car is doing because he’s weaving around. Disappointing, and just things we shouldn’t be making mistakes with. Renault in the way again, so many times in the last couple of races.

“That hurt us today, so hopefully they’ll get a penalty for it.”

Palmer refutes Button’s claim

Palmer went on to qualify 15^th, and refuted Button’s accusation that he should have been penalised over the incident.

“Q1 was closer than it needed to be, because no-one told me about the traffic,” said Palmer. “In the last corner I had to literally get off the road to not get a penalty. I think they looked into it and said no further action.

“I saw him and I literally jumped off the track, I wasn’t even on the track when he came past. I tried my best to get out of the way. I don’t think it probably cost him three tenths me getting in the way.

“It meant I only got one clear lap in Q1, and I only had one in Q2 also – but they were both pretty good. I’m happy, I don’t think we could have had any more.”