JENSON BUTTON: I CAN'T WIN

CHAMPIONSHIP leader Jenson Button could only manage sixth place on the grid for tomorrow's British Grand Prix and then admitted: I can't win this race.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finished nearly four tenths of a second quicker than Rubens Barrichello in his Brawn GP, and Mark Webber who missed out on an all-Red Bull Racing front row by 0.012secs.

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton plead for end to F1 war - click here for the full story

Button said: "I have no chance of winning the race. It is all about damage limitation now and getting some points for the championship. We are just not quick enough and Red Bulls look pretty much unbeatable."

As for world champion Lewis Hamilton, who thrilled his fans a year ago with a storming win in the wet, the McLaren ace qualified a career low 19th as his wretched season continues.

Button was left languishing by almost 0.8secs behind Vettel as the Briton also has Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima in his Williams ahead of him, the Japanese qualifying a career high of fifth.

For the 29-year-old, who goes into the sell-out race at Silverstone tomorrow with a 26-point lead in the championship after winning six of this season's first seven races, it was his worst qualifying run of the season.

As for Hamilton, it was a day to forget, with his chances wrecked by an accident late on in the initial 20-minute qualifying run by an accident involving friend Adrian Sutil in his Force India.

Sutil at least climbed out of the cockpit of his car unharmed in the wake of a shunt that saw him slam sideways into a tyre wall.

Entering Abbey, Sutil suffered problems with his brakes as his car careered across the grass and then gravel before finally hitting the tyres. The force of the impact was such Sutil bounced off the wall before finally coming to rest.

It was a couple of minutes before the German clambered away from the wreckage before then being taken to the track medical centre for examination where he was given the all clear.

"I did the best I could," reflected Hamilton, who has now failed to make it into Q2 for the last three races. I was pushing on that last lap, as hard as I could, but it was nothing special. We were just dead slow.

"The race is over, but we'll keep fighting and hopefully put on a good show for the fans. I've had incredible support from them. They're the ones that really get me through it."

Leading Grid Positions after Qualifying: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 19.509secs, 2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:19.856, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:19.868, 4 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:20.091, 5 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:20.216, 6 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:20.289, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:20.361, 8 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:20.490, 9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:20.715, 10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:20.741, 11 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:18.927, 12 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:19.308, 13 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:19.353, 14 Nelson Piquet Jr (Bra) Renault 1:19.392, 15 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:19.448, 16 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:19.802, 17 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:19.898, 18 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:19.909, 19 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:19.917, 20 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.236

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