Breaking news
Formula 1 Barcelona March testing
Button: New Honda engine "biggest improvement" in over a year
McLaren driver Jenson Button says the upgraded engine Honda has brought to pre-season Formula 1 testing is the “biggest improvement” he has felt in over a year.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Mar 2, 2016, 7:58 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Button completed another relatively trouble-free day of running for the Woking-based team on Wednesday, recording 121 laps and posting the fifth best time.
And the Briton says the improvements Honda has made to its power unit after a troubled first week of testing at Barcelona were noticeable on his return to the cockpit.
Asked by Motorsport.com about the step in performance, Button said: "It's the biggest improvement I've felt with the power unit in the last 14 months, which is good!
"The improvement is good, but obviously we're still a long way off the other guys. You can see that in the speed traps, but you can definitely feel the difference on the initial part of the straight.
"It's positive, I think the important thing is we were able to do quite a few laps. We were held up a bit by some niggles, some red flags, but we've got that reliability which is important."
Set-up focus needed
Button nonetheless admitted that the team had yet to focus much on honing its set-up, which he said would be crucial in order to prepared for the season-opener in Melbourne.
"I don't feel we've done any proper work yet with the set-up, it's been mostly aero work and understanding if we're in the right place or not," he said. "Not specific driver set-up work.
"The next two days it will be fine-tune the car and find a balance that really works. We're not there yet, we need two really good days to feel ready for Melbourne."
Speaking about McLaren's place in the competitive order, he added: "I'm hoping we won't be hanging off the back.
"There's still a lot of work before I feel we are properly competitive, in the next two days to find a set-up that works for us."
Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Haas confident turbo problem is fixed
Next article Drivers against new F1 qualifying system
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
More from
Jenson Button
The greatest F1 campaigns with no wins
Formula 1
The greatest F1 campaigns with no wins
Fernando Alonso earns Michael Schumacher comparison from Jenson Button
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
Fernando Alonso earns Michael Schumacher comparison from Jenson Button
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
More from
McLaren
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
WEC
WEC
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
Latest news
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 12 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
12 h
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 13 h
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
13 h
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe