Jenson Button said that track conditions at the end of Monaco Grand Prix qualifying were a key factor in preventing him from challenging Sebastian Vettel for pole position.
Sergio Perez's heavy accident brought out the red flags with just over two minutes of Q3 remaining, at which point Button lay provisionally second on the grid, 0.441sec behind Vettel's Red Bull.
Button said that the slippery nature of the circuit and a long wait in the pitlane for the green light to be shown both hampered his performance when the session resumed.
"It was very slippery but we wanted to get out early to push on the out-lap," said Button, who secured only his third front row start since joining McLaren at the start of 2010 as nobody managed to improve their times. "But there wasn't any tire temperature because we sat a the end of the pit lane for two and a half minutes. At least I did a good lap in Q3 – much better than the Q2 laps."
Button's qualifying effort marked only his third front-row appearance since joining McLaren last year.
Button wished Perez a speedy recovery following his accident: "It's great that he's talking and OK. I went in there in 2003 and I know how much it hurts. I'm not sure if he'll be racing tomorrow, but hopefully he'll get well soon."