Jenson Button reckons he could have qualified alongside Lewis Hamilton on the front row in Abu Dhabi but for the tyre vibration that he experienced in the final session.
The new world champion was fast throughout practice and the two knockout qualifying segments, but said the vibration made his Brawn BGP 001 extremely difficult to drive in Q3, restricting him to fifth place.
Although he conceded he would have been unable to match Hamilton’s pace in any event, Button feels second place ahead of the Red Bulls was there for the taking.
“The car has felt good here all weekend and the first two sessions went well in qualifying today,” he said.
“Unfortunately in Q3 when we were running with high fuel and new tyres, I started to get massive vibrations every time that I hit the brakes which made the steering wheel shudder.
“With such a smooth circuit any kind of vibration just leads to understeer which made the car quite a handful to drive.
“It's frustrating as we had the potential for a better performance today and should have been challenging for the first row behind Lewis.
“Hopefully we can solve the issue before the race and I'm looking forward to a good fight tomorrow.”
Rubens Barrichello qualified one place higher than his team-mate, but two behind Sebastian Vettel, with whom he is vying for runner-up honours in the championship.
The Brazilian admits Red Bull may have the faster car here but isn’t giving up hope of overturning his two-point deficit to Vettel.
“It was a good qualifying session for us today and I'm quite happy with fourth position and what we have achieved,” he said.
“The car is still very competitive but the Red Bulls and McLarens seem to be ahead of us here.
“It's been challenging to get the right set-up throughout the weekend as the sessions are taking place in very different track and ambient conditions.
“The car seems to improve towards the end of the day with the cooler temperatures so we can hope that the track comes towards us tomorrow.
“It's very close with Sebastian for second position in the championship and I'll be going flat-out for the best result.”
Team boss Ross Brawn said the team had not yet identified what caused Button’s tyre problem.
“The qualifying hour went to plan in Q1 and Q2 although we struggled, like many others, with traffic and achieving clear laps when the tyres were at their best,” he said.
“Unfortunately in Q3, Jenson suffered with a significant vibration on his last set of tyres, which we are now investigating, and this compromised his performance.
“However fourth position on the grid for Rubens and fifth place for Jenson is a good result.
“We should be in reasonable shape for the race tomorrow and are looking forward to the challenge of finishing the season on a high.”