Button: not enough progress for Honda

The Japanese squad have been lacking pace in the first three races of the season, and any hopes of a major improvement at Barcelona - a track they have tested on extensively - have been mooted, after Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello finished today's practice for the Spanish Grand Prix in 13th and 14th respectively.

"We spent four days testing here last week, so we had a good idea going into this weekend of how the car would perform," Button said. "Today we did the usual Friday work, setting up the car for qualifying and race conditions.

"We have made some small steps with the stability of the car since the last race, but the outright pace has not yet improved a lot. However, both Rubens and I covered a lot of laps today so we will look at all the data this evening and see what progress can be made."

Barrichello, on the other hand, was more optimistic that Honda can improve their race performance - even if they are still lacking speed to qualify well.

"I think the car has improved since Bahrain and we have a decent race pace but not such a good pace for qualifying," Barrichello stated, "so we need to look at that this evening and try to improve during tomorrow's final free practice session."

Engineering director Jacky Eeckelaert warned, however, that despite making some progress, the team have a lot more work to do to become competitive again.

"I think overall we have made a small step in the right direction in terms of car performance but obviously there is still a long way to go," he said.