Ferrari turnaround is motivation for Honda - Button

As his team seeks to extract itself from the doldrums, Jenson Button believes Honda can mimic this year Ferrari's impressive 2015 turnaround.

The 2009 World Champion, along with every member of the McLaren Honda squad, endured a dismal campaign last season as Honda struggled endlessly with the performance and reliability of its power unit.

While Ferrari had by no means sunk to the level suffered by its Japanese rival following a lackluster 2014 season, its performance was still poor in relative terms. But the Scuderia's forced restructuring initiated a turnaround which has firmly put it back in play as it chases down its mighty Mercedes opponent.

For Button, Ferrari's hard work and upturn in performance can be replicated by Honda in 2016:

"It was great to see Ferrari pick up the pace," Button said. "I heard rumours they found a hundred horsepower over the winter. I don't know if that's true or not. But whatever they found, it was massive and they took the fight to Mercedes on many occasions. It was good to see.

"Obviously we need to make even bigger steps if we want to achieve that, but it can be done over a winter."

The British driver is also convinced that the McLaren Honda partnership remains intact in spite of the pair's overwhelming underperformance, for which both companies take responsibility.

"I think there are always issues on both sides, but I don't think Honda get blamed for everything, I don't think that at all.

"We had a lot of issues this year. We've got to resolve them as quick as possible because next season is not far away. It's going to be a long, hard winter for us, but an exciting one as well, as there is a lot coming."

Key dates for the 2016 F1 season

Playing the joker: Sebastian Vettel

Technical feature: All of the 2015 F1 steering wheels

Use the red tabs on either side of the screen to scroll through more Formula One news and features

2015 F1 technical review