Jenson Button says there is more confidence within McLaren heading in to the Monaco Grand Prix after a productive test in Spain.

Having struggled in the Spanish Grand Prix, Button stayed in Barcelona to drive on the second day of in-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Button was much happier with the way the test went and says he noticed the increase in confidence within McLaren as a result.

"When emotions are running high you always exaggerate things," Button said, referring to post-race comments that McLaren would struggle to score points this season. "It was a tough race for me in Barcelona. It was good to have the test three days later, also in Barcelona, to really put everything right.

"The car felt much nicer to drive, much more consistent, especially on the long-run pace. We also had some new parts to test for this season, but also specifically for here. It was a good test.

"So, really at the end of the test I was happy and you could see how far we have come since February, as a whole team but especially Honda and the Japanese side of the team. There was so much more confidence within and I was really happy to complete the amount of laps we did but also to do a lot of very useful work. It was a really good day and hopefully we can carry that through to this weekend."

Click here for a look at the technical updates brought by all the teams at the start of the European season

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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