McLaren F1 drivers Button and Alonso split on Italian GP Q3 chances

Both world champions made it into the top 10 during Friday practice, with Alonso seventh and Button 10th, the latter feeling he could have gone faster if he wasn't held up by Kimi Raikkonen.

When asked about the prospect of making it to Q3 on Saturday, Button said: "We're not doing anything different to what we normally do on a Friday so it's definitely possible.

"This is definitely the toughest circuit for us, so today's pace isn't too bad.

"There's still room for improvement on one lap, we're getting there and there are a lot of things to go through tonight in the data.

"The long run pace is OK, still needs some work before we are properly competitive and can fight for good points.

"A bit of work this evening and hopefully we can be a bit stronger tomorrow."

Alonso, however, believes McLaren staying in the top 10 when it counts would be a surprise.

"We didn't expect both cars to be in the top 10 here, so definitely that's good news," said the Spaniard.

"But we need to keep our feet on the ground because tomorrow in qualifying we know that we slip a little bit backwards.

"Hopefully we can be close to Q3 but I think if we are in Q3 that would be a surprise because we don't expect to do so."

ENGINE QUESTION MARKS

Despite McLaren's obvious progress at power-dependent circuits Spa and Monza, Alonso still feels Honda needs to make big gains for 2017.

"We have a very different winter coming, where the regulation changes will make a massive difference," he said.

"We are happy and confident with the chassis side, we can do a good job and close the gap to Mercedes.

"The engine side is a question mark.

"We are still a long way behind the top engines so we need to make a bigger step over the winter."