Jenson Button has ruled out scoring any points in what could be his final appearance at the British Grand Prix.
The 2009 world champion, who heads into his home race in the midst of his worst-ever campaign, struggled again on Friday.
Button, without a podium in his 15 previous Silverstone appearances, spent the majority of the opening session twiddling his thumbs at the back of the McLaren garage before completing only 16 laps in the afternoon - the fewest of any driver.
Once on track, he reported that the car felt "terrible". He finished a lowly 17th, three seconds off the time of pacesetter Nico Rosberg.
Button's contract expires at the end of the season and the 35-year-old forecast yet another gloomy weekend for McLaren in what has been a disastrous campaign.
"We are not going to be looking for points this weekend unless something happens overnight which would surprise me," a downbeat Button said.
"We found a little bit with the setup at the end of the day, but there is a lot that still needs to be done.
"We are a long way behind and w e are not very fast here. - high speeds and straights do not seem to be our strength right now - but I think tomorrow will be better with some reasonably big setup changes."
Button's team-mate Fernando Alonso also endured a trying day. He survived a trip through the gravel at Luffield, but could only post the 15th best time.
And the Spaniard admitted McLaren will struggle to make it out of Q1 in qualifying on Saturday as their nightmare season goes from bad to worse.
"Q2 is going to be tough," Alonso said. "It is not that easy because only the Saubers seem to be on our pace. The other ones are a little bit too quick for us so we need to beat the Saubers if we want to be in Q2."
Source: PA
