BAR Honda's Jenson Button will line up on the 2nd row of the grid for what promises to be a thrilling finale to the 2005 season in Shanghai tomorrow. Jenson qualified 4th for the Chinese Grand Prix after a faultless lap as the 16th runner out on track. His team-mate Takuma Sato was the first driver to leave the pitlane for his decisive single-lap run and posted the 17th fastest time on a 'green' track, which puts his BAR Honda 007 on the 9th row.

Jenson and Takuma continued to make steady progress throughout the morning's free practice sessions to improve the car balance. In the first session both drivers were in the top 8 drivers. The conditions changed significantly for the qualifying hour and Takuma suffered the brunt of that change with the early timing of his run. Running later in the session, Jenson delivered a very clean lap that, at the time, was good for P1.

Jenson Button: "I had a good lap and the car felt good, so I'm pleased to be on the second row for the final race of the season. We had a bit of understeer on the lap but generally the car has been great all weekend. We're not too far away from the competition ahead of us - only about 0.4secs - so I feel quite positive about the race tomorrow. I think we can all look forward to a great race, which I'm sure will be action-packed as the decider for the Constructors' Championship. Hopefully I can be part of that action and give the whole team a well-earned boost to end the season."

Takuma Sato: "It was a very difficult lap for me, not least because I was the first driver out on track and the circuit was incredibly slippery - very different to the conditions we had in free practice this morning. We have done all the preparation that we could and, as this is my final qualifying session of the season and my last for the BAR Honda team, I am determined to keep pushing for a good result tomorrow to express my thanks to the team."

Gil de Ferran: "We are reasonably satisfied with our qualifying today. Taku was the first out in the session and as predicted he found very little grip; nevertheless we had taken this into account with our strategic considerations for the race. Jenson had a good clean run and we are cautiously optimistic for tomorrow, since he has been quite happy with the car balance."

Shuhei Nakamoto: "Not too bad. I think Jenson did a good lap and it was clear that Taku had problems by going out first. It has been a long and challenging season for everybody - not just the race team - and I want to have a good result to help our motivation during the winter. Next year must be better."