McLaren have been left hoping for a miracle as they look to salvage something from their British Grand Prix weekend.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had felt the ongoing technical furore would disadvantage his team, but nothing seemed to have changed as they locked out the front row.
The only difference is that Mark Webber will start from pole ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, the reigning Champion settling for second for only the second time in nine races this season.
The deep concern for McLaren is not so much that Jenson Button is fifth on the grid and Lewis Hamilton 10th, it's the gaping chasm to not just Red Bull, but more importantly Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa both ahead of them.
Button finished 1.5secs behind Webber and 1.3secs adrift of Alonso, and the worry is little will change in tomorrow's 52-lap blast around Silverstone.
Hamilton was remarkably upbeat, despite ending the session in his lowest starting position for 26 races.
The 26-year-old had been in a negative frame of mind after finishing fourth at the last race in Valencia, but he was more positive today, insisting McLaren can bounce back after a tough start to the weekend on home soil.
After listening to team principal Martin Whitmarsh openly concede the car is far from quick enough, Hamilton said: "Martin was quite courageous to come out and admit that.
"But the most important thing he said is that we are a team, we'll pull through it because we have experience in bouncing back from situations like this.
"For the fans, for our home grand prix, we would love to be sitting on the front row, but that is not the case.
"But we'll pull back, regroup, and obviously tomorrow anything can happen with the rainy conditions like we've seen over the last two days.
"Who knows? Maybe a miracle might happen tomorrow and we'll still get a one-two."
Turning to Button, Hamilton added: "I don't know about you Jenson, but I'm game."
But Button was the more downbeat member of the McLaren team on this occasion.
"It's been a very tough day for us," said Button.
"For everybody in Formula One it's been a very busy weekend trying to work out what is going on with the regulations, which have been cleared up which is good to see.
"But we didn't qualify where we expected. My position isn't so bad, but it's the gap to the cars in front which is a lot bigger than I expected.
"To be 1.3secs off the Ferraris, who we are normally fighting with, is a big blow."
Unsurprisingly, Button is hoping the fans can play their part as he added: "To see the support does definitely drive you on, as I'm sure it does for the whole team.
"Hopefully tomorrow we can put on a good show for the people who have been supporting us.
"They definitely deserve for us to have a good result, we'll do our best, and hopefully we can celebrate something tomorrow."
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