Jenson Button does not expect McLaren-Honda to fight for points before the Spanish Grand Prix, which traditionally kicks off the European leg of the Formula One season in early May.
The renewed Woking-Sakura alliance has been experiencing a tough start to the 2015 campaign with its new MP4-30 suffering from poor reliability and lacking pace to mix it among the frontrunners.
Button did reach the chequered flag in Australia, albeit in final position and two laps down from race winner Lewis Hamilton. However, the 2009 world champion noted tangible progress in Sepang despite he and team-mate Fernando Alonso both failing to finish the race on Sunday.
Although Button expects McLaren and Honda to make further strides over the next couple of Grand Prix, the Briton believes his squad won’t be in the contention for points until teams return to Europe.
"We have got a lot of work to do before we can think about that,” replied Button when asked on when McLaren could hope to challenge for wins.
"For us the next step is to hopefully finish in front of a few of the cars we were racing with in this race, but I don't think we will be fighting for points when we go to (China).
"Bahrain, maybe, if we make a small step before that race.
"But it think it is probably going to be in Europe we start fighting for points, and that would be a massive step.
"There is a lot in the pipeline in terms of the power unit and aerodynamics for the next race."
