Jenson Button insists McLaren "will make big margins this winter" despite struggling for the whole of 2015.
McLaren's renewed partnership with Honda has not been anywhere near as successful as was hoped, with the power unit proving uncompetitive and unreliable for the majority of the season. Honda says major changes will be made to the engine for next year having learned about its weaknesses this year, and Button was convinced enough by the potential to extend his contract in to 2016.
Asked about his mindset following another difficult weekend so far in Brazil, Button - who jokingly posed on the podium with team-mate Fernando Alonso after both dropped out in Q1 on Saturday - says his confidence that McLaren and Honda will improve markedly has not changed.
"It’s a tricky one to answer as, obviously, we were all smiles after qualifying even though that was a bad qualifying session as the pace isn’t there and there were reliability issues for Fernando," Button said. "Nothing has changed for us, we knew it was going to be a difficult season and the last few races have also been very difficult, so nothing has changed for me, or my views for next year.
"Obviously it would be nice to see, and I think we would all love, in this team, to have more reliability, but we’re trying to push and make good gains through the year, because next year is the year that is more exciting for us. This year is more of a testing year for us – some of the race, we’ve done okay in unusual circumstances but, most of the time, it has been testing, trying to prove out things with the power unit, but also with the car itself, with the chassis and the aerodynamics.
"Every race, we’re bringing new parts and, whether or not you see it in terms of lap time, it is all learning for next year so my views haven’t changed since Japan, or just after Japan, when I decided that I wanted to stay next year. I wanted to stay because my view is we could have a good year next year.
"I feel the passion within the team, how everyone is working very well together. It’s going to be a long winter, a winter we’re looking forward to. It isn’t going to be an easy winter to find the time that we need - for fighting at the front we have to find 2.5secs, which is a massive gap – and whether we can do that or not, I don’t know, but I know that we will make big margins this winter, so my views have not changed."
REPORT: Rosberg takes fifth pole in a row by 0.078s
AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix - qualifying
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