Jenson Button says Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix saw McLaren enjoy its "best day for a couple of years".
The 2009 world champion was third fastest in FP2 behind the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Button was 1.2s off the fastest time by led the chasing pack and while he expects to slip back on Saturday he says the signs are positive for the rest of McLaren's weekend.
"If you look at how far off we are off the Mercedes that’s the time you’ve got to gauge really," Button said. "There will be cars that slip in between us tomorrow but you’ve got to say that it’s was a good day for us - the best day for a couple of years. It’s a good start, we didn’t do anything unusual, and hopefully we can continue to improve tomorrow."
Being able to deliver such a strong showing in FP2 leads Button to target a place in the top eight in qualifying on Saturday.
"We’ve got to do a good job as a team and make sure we don’t do any mistakes, like we did in Melbourne when other people faltered. When you’re third in P2 and it’s not changeable conditions and its outright pace you’ve got to hope to get to Q3 - it has to be the aim."
And Button says McLaren has not peaked with its performance on Friday either, suggesting there is more to come from the MP4-31 on Saturday.
"In the second run in FP1 I had higher fuel so I couldn’t really get a reasonable lap time but I think it would have been equally competitive. The car doesn’t feel too bad, I came from the back up tyre to the super-soft which is a big leap I think it was 3.2 seconds so it’s obviously going to feel good and you’re probably not going to get everything out of it but the balance is reasonable and the car is feeling nice around here.
"It feels definitely better than Melbourne. Long run – some areas need a bit of work, especially on the harder compound but the supersoft was reasonably good so it’s a nice place to be, a nice place to start, positive start but still, as always with everyone, there is still work to be done overnight.”
REPORT: Rosberg heads Hamilton and Button in FP2
AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix FP2
Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain
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