F1: Button says McLaren has work to do in every area

Jenson Button says his McLaren Formula 1 team needs to improve in "every area" after testing a series of upgrades during Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Honda-powered team has failed to score a single point in the opening four races but it hoped an update package to both the chassis and Honda engine would lift it into the top 10.

Button finished seventh quickest in second practice, 1.6s off the pace, with his team-mate Fernando Alonso two tenths further adrift, but the 2009 world champion insisted it would be wrong to read too much into the times.

"It is the closest we have been all year," said Button. "It is always nice seeing the timing sheets but it is only practice. There is a lot of work for us to do in every area to optimise what we have.

"It has been a tough day for everyone, in FP1 the prime tyre pace has been good but it is tough in terms of balance on a lap. In second practice we really struggled on the prime tire but the option was a little better.

"It has been a good day – but lots to do to figure out why we can't do certain things."

Button said the team needs to look at the data on Friday evening before drawing any conclusions on the MP4-30's updates.

"We tried three different front wings today," he said. "Nothing is better nothing is worse, we don't know yet we need to look at the data and find out. We will see where we stand but I would say it is a promising day when you compare us to the front guys."

Alonso, who has come closest to scoring a point for McLaren this season when he finished four seconds adrift of 10th place in Bahrain, echoed Button's comments.

"We need to check all the tests we did today and tomorrow put everything together," said the Spaniard. "Hopefully we can increase the performance a little bit."

Originally on Autosport.com