Button happy with season's best grid position
( 2001-09-30 09:48 ) (7 )

Briton Jenson Button enjoyed his best grid position of the Formula One season on Saturday but denied it had anything to do with team pressure.

"The only pressure is from myself. I want to perform as well as possible. I want to do the best job I can and that's what I'm going to do," he said.

The 21-year-old, who has gone from the sensation of last year with Williams to racing among the tail-enders at Benetton for much of 2001, qualified 10th for the US Grand Prix.

Speculation about his future has heated up as the results failed to come and team boss Flavio Briatore has expressed his dissatisfaction.

Since the Belgian Grand Prix, where he qualified 15th and then crashed out, Button has shown a marked improvement in qualifying with an 11th place in Italy two weeks ago.

That race at Monza was marred by his colliding with future Benetton team mate Jarno Trulli's Jordan at the first corner.

"It's good, first time this year, so it's fantastic," he said of his top 10 start. "Hopefully we can do something at the start and at the first corner as well, but I hope to make it round this time."

Button said Benetton, who will become Renault next season, had improved the car dramatically and the signs were good for next season.

"I've improved a lot also mechanically on the car. it's all positive," he said.

Team technical director Mike Gascoyne was also pleased with what he saw.

"Jenson put in his best qualifying performance of the year and we are very pleased to see how much he has improved during the last few races," he said.