McLaren needs 'to find a big gain in pace' - Button

First practice on Friday got off to the worst possible start for Button as he stopped on his installation lap with a fuel pump issue. Fortunately, marshals were allowed to push the McLaren back to the pit lane under a Virtual Safety Car, allowing Button to continue in the rest of the session.

Having finished 16th in the opening session and 12th in FP2, Button says McLaren is a long way adrift of where it was hoping to be.

“[Friday] was a long way from being alright," Button said. "It was lucky I stopped close to the pits so they could push me back. Where I stopped there was no gap in the wall and that was lucky as they really had to push me back to the pits and that saved the embarrassment of not running in FP1.

"There’s a lot of work needed before we are competitive this weekend. It’s s strange situation but we had very low grip. The balance wasn’t too bad but the grip was nowhere near what the people we were hoping to fight with had. And the harder the compound, the worse it gets, of course. Toro Rosso, on long run pace is just phenomenally quick compared to us… it’s a big surprise."

And Button says it is the race pace which is most concerning for McLaren rather than its speed over one lap.

"We need to find a big gain in pace to be where we want to be. We’re looking at it, but it’s going to be tricky. We’ll deal with what we have but it’s going to be tougher than we expected this weekend.

"I don’t know about getting into Q3 – the goal is just to go quicker but I don’t know where we’ll end up. Qualifying is the least of our worries – race pace is the real issue.”