Button's McLaren started fourth on the grid, as Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel set the pace in qualifying to claim pole position.
Whitmarsh's approach is in stark contrast to that of other teams on the grid, with both Red Bull and Mercedes having issued driver orders during the season's second race in Malaysia.
Such a system does have some obvious limitations when it comes to reaching areas not served by the Maglev, but the filmmakers thought of that too, and developed so-called off-grid cars exemplified by a red Lexus sports coupe in the movie.
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Hamilton, who will share the front row with Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, was delighted to have gotten the better of the Red Bulls, who have filled the top two on the grid for the last three rounds.
Once in the applications view, tapping any icon launches the associated app (or bookmark), while holding any icon lets you move it to another position on the grid (or remove it by pressing a little red X, if present).
Massa was later handed a three-place grid penalty after being accused of impeding Mark Webber in the second Red Bull during Q2, with the Australian qualifying eighth behind Lotus' Romain Grosjean.
The 2009 world champion came home nearly 14 seconds ahead of defending champion Sebastian Vettel, the Red Bull driver capitalizing on the chaos after starting a lowly 10th on the grid.
Mark Webber in the second Red Bull edged out seven-time world champion Schumacher with Button eighth on the grid.
He will start the race alongside teammate Felipe Massa after Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was dropped five places from fourth -- having needed a new gearbox after problems in final practice -- and Red Bull's Mark Webber was demoted from fifth to seventh because of his grid penalty following a collision in the China race.
The Japanese was handed a 10-place grid penalty for next weekend's Malaysian race for his role in tangles with Red Bull's Mark Webber at the start and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica nine laps from the end.
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They created a material that excluded light with a wavelength of one millimetre (the long end of the infra-red spectrum), using an array of aluminium-oxide posts that were spaced evenly across a grid.
Super Aguri folded earlier in the year after lengthy sponsorship struggles, and even those teams fortunate enough to have rich benefactors -- Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India -- rarely make an impression on the front of the grid.
With three laps remaining, though, he crashed out following a collision with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica for which he was demoted 10 places on the starting grid at next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix - but his drive was still indicative of Red Bull's encouraging speed.
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