Jenson Button was left to rue what he labelled as a "horrific" home race for McLaren-Honda, after he and teammate Fernando Alonso struggled in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.
McLaren headed to Suzuka with high hopes of achieving a positive result, having compromised Alonso's Malaysian Grand Prix by taking an engine upgrade and subsequent grid penalty, in order to avoid a grid drop and maximise the team's performance on the home turf of engineer partner Honda. Following a disappointing qualifying, Alonso could only manage 16th, while Button -- who incurred his own penalty as McLaren fitted a power unit update to his car ahead of the race -- laboured to 18th.
"The start was really poor," the 2009 world champion said. "The problem is it's all new in the back, so at the start I just got massive wheelspin and got left behind really. It was really difficult to get past the Manors, they were on soft tyres and I was on the hards, so really tricky, but managed to get past them in the end.
"I finished 18th so it's pretty horrific but still had some fun overtaking, had a few battles but 16th and 18th for us, a long way behind points, a very tough day and a very tough weekend. It's a shame that this is our bogey track, it's our second home."
The Briton admitted he was surprised to find out he was as low as 18th after battling with the likes of Manor and Sauber, but he said McLaren can still take positives after enjoying stronger performances in recent grands prix.
"When I saw 18th on the board on the last lap I was actually surprised, I didn't think it was quite that bad, a tough day. But you've got to take the rough with the smooth, I don't think anyone expected us to be as good in Sepang or Spa. We're not quick here but the next race we will be. It can't all be good."