"We are not going to have a race-winning car at the first race, but we might have one at the last race," insists Jenson
Monday 16 March 2015 14:27, UK
Jenson Button has dismissed any notion that McLaren-Honda's winter testing travails have automatically set them up for a “tough year” – although he has conceded they might not be ready for the first race.
The revived partnership between Honda and McLaren has has continued to endure problems with their all-new power unit this week at Barcelona, although this time the issues have centered on a problematic seal on their MGU-K. The fault initially came to light on Day One, and although a redesigned part arrived in time for Day Three’s running, it failed to cure the problem. As a result, Button's MP4-30 broke down on track in the morning and then completed just 24 laps to prop up the timesheets.
However, despite still lagging behind their rivals in the mileage charts, Button is far from downbeat about McLaren’s prospects in 2015 and denied that a repeat of the last two seasons – when they finished on the podium at just one race – was on the cards.
“We are not in for another tough season – that is definitely not the case – but whether we are ready for the first race or not I can’t say right now. This is a very different situation to the last two years – the last two years we just weren’t quick enough, whereas now this is all very new for us," Button told reporters.
“It would be a very different situation if this was last year, I don’t think I would be sat here answering the same questions because most people would be in the same position.
“Everyone else has so much experience with these power units, whereas Honda obviously doesn’t. So it looks worse than it is, I would love to be pounding around every day that we have the car, but it is just not the case right now.
“There are problems which we need to solve and hope that the next test will be a good test for us in terms of mileage so that we feel confident going to the first race that we can get the best out of what we have and push the car to the limit.”
While the potential of the MP4-30 remains unknown while the team run into regular reliability setbacks, Button says the team are prepared to play the long game in 2015 and are expecting “big improvements” over the next nine months.
“We are not going to have a race-winning car at the first race, but we might have one at the last race,” the former world champion said.
“I think you are going to see big improvements from us, we are all quite interested to see what this car can do because I think it has a lot of potential, but it is just very difficult to extract. It is tough for all of us and on the guys in the garage taking it apart and putting it back together, but we will solve these problems and hopefully soon.”
Ferrari and Renault’s problems following the introduction of the new power unit were much publicised this time last year and Button has taken heart from the fact that Honda don’t seem to be experiencing problems with driveability and brake-by-wire as their rivals did.
“All the bits that the people struggled with driveability-wise last year, with the two engines that I didn’t drive, we don’t have,” he said.
"We have made massive steps forward since the first test which is really nice to see – drivability and also under braking. That is all working really well which is good and once we get past those issues we can build on developing the car in terms of set up. It is just fine tuning drivability now which is great and a really nice position to be in.”
