Jenson Button thinks he could have made it into Q2 at the very least in Austria had it rained more than it did as he braces himself for a difficult race once his engine penalties set in.
Button usually excels in mixed conditions and briefly found himself P1 in Q1 - unfamiliar territory for McLaren-Honda this season - as the track continued to dry from a heavy rain shower in the morning. The track got faster and faster as the session went on and Button ended up falling into the drop zone as the chequered flag fell because he was one of the first cars across the line for his final timed lap.
"It wasn't mixed at the end, that's the problem, it was dry," Button said. "I think most of qualifying was tricky conditions, my positions kept changing, and my last lap I finished before everyone else. I think I was one of the first guys to cross the finish line and everyone else had a last lap with a drying circuit. It just hasn't worked out and it could have been so good in qualifying, but it wasn't."
Asked if he could have made it into Q2 with more rain, the 2009 world champion replied: "Easily. I think there could have even been a chance in Q3. It just hasn't been my weekend and hopefully next race will be it."
Having being handed a 25-place grid penalty for an engine change Button will start from the back row of the grid, ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso. Because he cannot serve the entire drop it will carry over into a 10-second stop/go penalty during the grand prix.
"I enjoyed it out there. I thought I was going to have a good race with Fernando tomorrow but due to the stop-go penalty I won't be racing him either. This weekend has been pretty tough all round. It'll be a tough day tomorrow but hopefully we'll get a lot of information with both cars running very different aero packages.
"It's difficult, but we've got to deal with it. We won't get used to it. The reason we're taking the penalty here is because we don't want to take them at Silverstone."