Jenson Button expects Honda F1 engine upgrade for Belgian GP

Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa told Autosport at Silverstone that the firm was planning to wait for or five races before introducing its next update but that the timetable was flexible.

The Japanese manufacturer has been encouraged by the numbers on the dynos back at its base and is currently proving the durability.

The upgrade will be focused on the internal combustion engine and require a spend of a portion of Honda's remaining 10 development tokens.

Autosport understands Honda is hopeful the update will be ready for introduction at either Spa or the following race at Monza.

Button told reporters in Germany: "We have the summer break and then we come to Spa where we have another power unit upgrade, which is exciting."

The 2009 world champion added he is pleased with the rate of progress from McLaren and believes the team seem to be around the fourth quickest, as suggested by Williams technical chief Pat Symonds.

"We have been building every race and we're improving every race with the power unit and with the aerodynamics," said Button.

"It's definitely on the right track, you can see that from the last few races.

"It's still not great, it's still not where we want to be but it's a good step forward.

"There are three teams in the front that are quite a bit in front still, but we seem to be at the front of the chasing pack."

Button said this weekend he has the new front wing that Fernando Alonso used in the last couple of races and is hopeful of a strong result in Germany after an encouraging performance in Hungary.

"There have been new bits every race which is great and I've also got the front wing that the other car has had for the last couple of races - so I've got an upgrade here.

"This is hopefully going to be a good race for us, hopefully similar to Hungary."