Button Aiming to Fight Renault

With his team introducing some more improvements to the BAR007, as well Honda supplying an upgraded engine, Button was able to set the third quickest time in the dry morning session.

However, he still remains cautious about the team's chances for the race - especially after tyre graining hampered his pace in Brazil two weeks ago.

"We had a good day, tested all the stuff we wanted to and did tyre comparisons for both cars," said Button. "Everything went smoothly and at the end of the day we put on some wets, which was useful, to feel what it is like in the wet here.

"The new developments are good, the engine has run fine, but we are still working on our race balance and that was the big thing today."

Speaking about the team's long-distance pace, he added: "Renault, I always say we can challenge them, but I don't know.

"We have a lot of data to go through and we can look at everything. The car feels good on one lap and it has been very positive, but a lot of the long runs we have suffered with graining and that is the problem we have to solve or we will not be strong in the race."