Button bullish after shock pole

Jenson Button put the “wow” factor back into BAR-Honda by claiming a stunning pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal today.

The 25-year-old threw the form book out of the window to snatch the second pole of his career with a brilliant drive today.

As he emerged from jubilant scenes in the BAR garage, which has seen difficult times this season, Button summed up his achievement in just one word: “Wow.”

The Englishman was delighted to finally see smiles returning at BAR, who have endured an awful start to the season with a two-race ban capping several uncompetitive races.

He said: “We’ve had a tough year so far. This means a lot to us to be close to the front again. This is a special moment for the entire team.

“I can only say it has been a difficult season for us, probably the toughest for the team for many reasons.

“We don’t have a chance of winning the championship but our aim is to go out and fight for wins.

“Hopefully we are ready for it but I wasn’t expecting to come here and fight for the win. Maybe we are better than I thought.”

Button’s true pace will not be known until many laps into tomorrow’s race, when it becomes apparent how much fuel he and his rivals qualified with.

Current rules force teams to qualify with race fuel on board, allowing them the opportunity to compromise race strategy to move further up the starting grid.

Button is hopeful he will be a contender but tipped world championship leaders Renault and recent pacesetters McLaren as favourites tomorrow.

He added: “I know that in the race the Renaults, the McLarens and probably the Ferraris are going to be very fast looking at the practice times today.

“We have to wait and see tomorrow. We base our strategy not just on qualifying but also on the race and we think we have the best possible strategy for the race.

“The car worked really well. It was reasonably easy to drive. I think we have got a good race package. I’m not going to say too much because I have seen the Renaults and McLarens in practice and they look good on long runs.”

Button, whose only pole prior to this weekend came at Imola last year, will face a familiar foe when he lines up in the lead tomorrow.

His last pole position came with Michael Schumacher alongside and that front row will be repeated after the world champion overcame his recent qualifying difficulties.

Schumacher has suffered his worst-ever start to a Formula One season but Ferrari’s extensive testing paid dividends today as he delivered second place on the grid.

The German was particularly pleased to see Bridgestone improve their performance over one lap and claimed that step forward has not come at the expense of race pace.

He said: “After this morning’s work we have done it was not a surprise. I feel much more confident than I have felt so far this season, no doubt.

“I think it is a combination of things. Bridgestone have brought a tyre which is a bit harder and a bit more consistent. We have moved up our game in the one-lap situation while still having consistency.

“Yesterday things didn’t look very good but we found a lot of reasons for our performance because it was not normal to be so far behind.

“It’s a great job from everybody because it took a huge effort to bring the car back to the position we are in. Things look pretty good for us.”

World championship leader Fernando Alonso will be one of the fiercest threats to the victory hopes of Schumacher and Button. The Renault driver starts from third and declared himself “confident in our strategy”.

His title rival Kimi Raikkonen was surprisingly off the pace and lines up seventh, while former McLaren team-mate David Coulthard, now at Red Bull, starts 12th.