McLaren driver lavishes praise on new power unit at second test
Saturday 5 March 2016 10:51, UK
Jenson Button says the new Honda power unit introduced for the second pre-season test is the "biggest improvement" he has felt over the last 14 months.
The McLaren driver completed 121 laps on Day Two of the final test as he sampled the new engine debuted by team-mate Fernando Alonso on Tuesday.
Button's fastest time on the soft tyres was 1.5 seconds slower than the best of world champion Lewis Hamilton on the same compound.
Day Two, Final Test: Bottas edges out Hamilton
"I would say it is the biggest improvement I have felt with the power unit over the last 14 months," Button said of the new engine.
"The improvements are good, but we are still a long way off the other guys and you can see that in the speed traps. But you can definitely feel the difference on the initial part of the straight.
"So it is positive and the important thing is we are able to do quite a few laps which shows the reliability and I think we have sorted - fingers crossed. We have really pushed the performance with the power unit."
The gains made by Honda have been primarily focused on the electrical energy the drivers can deploy around a lap to supplement the traditional combustion engine.
"The progress is massive in that area. That is something we knew we had to work on. Deployment is not something we could work massively on last year with the compressor, but over the winter we have been able to," added Button.
"Honda have done a great job bringing that to testing and we have had no reliability issues with it at all and it is a big difference. At some circuits in the race we were losing six tenths last year every lap because we didn't have deployment, now the system is working well and from here on I think it is marginal gains compared to our competitors.
"It is a good step forward and a necessary step forward."
Button finished Day Two fifth on the timesheet. But rest assured McLaren fans, there are plenty of new parts in the pipeline for the MP4-31 ahead of the season-opening Australian GP.
"There are a lot more bits coming, hopefully this week and some more in Melbourne for P1," confirmed Button.
