Button rues gearbox glitch

Jenson Button was 10th quickest in FP2 having not set a time on the supersoft tyre © Getty Images

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Jenson Button said a gearbox problem prevented him from rejoining the track and shortened his running during second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Button locked up both his front tyres under braking for turn fourteen, and was left just in front of the barrier. While attempting to recover, the reverse gear failed and he was forced to abandon his car with 50 minutes of the session still to go. Button said that the team had analysed the gearbox and found a way to fix the problem.

"During P2, I locked up into Turn 14, but I just kept it out of the barriers," Button said. "I selected reverse and started to pull back slowly, but then I had no drive. I tried to turn the car around, but there was no room. So I tried to reverse again, and something wasn't working with the gearbox. We looked at the 'box once we got the car back to the garage, and it's now happily resolved."

The issue meant Button only completed ten laps, and he admitted that it had denied him the chance to find a balance he was happy with.

"I only ran the Prime tyre today and didn't really find a great set-up. It was a little disappointing not to do any more running, because I couldn't improve the package. Still, we have some good ideas for tomorrow and I'm confident we'll make more progress. I think everybody will struggle a little with tyres during the race - they seem to be overheating quite quickly. So it's going to be a bit tough, but we're all in the same boat."

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