F1: Jenson Button eyes progress ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix

JENSON Button has eyed continued progress ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Button arrives in Sakhir looking for his first points of the season after a poor strategy call left the McLaren driver a disappointing 14th in the Australian Grand Prix.

Despite leaving Melbourne pointless, McLaren demonstrated a clear step forward from their disastrous 2015 campaign and the main issues with their Honda engine from last season - unreliability and an inability to deploy full power for lengthy periods - appear to have been fixed.

Button said: "I'm really keen to get back behind the wheel, as, although it didn't show in our results from Australia, our package felt very good to drive and the team worked really hard to bring a step forward from testing to the first race.

"Bahrain is definitely a tricky track for us as it's high-speed, but we have a solid platform and improved deployment, so there are some positives to look forward to."

Button has fond memories of Bahrain, having won there in his title-winning season of 2009, but he suffered a disastrous time at the Middle Eastern circuit last year as he failed to start the race due to mechanical problems.

It is a dilemma that Button is looking forward to avoiding this weekend.

Button added: "Bahrain is a fun track to drive on and very different from Albert Park in its configuration.

"It's tough on brakes and fuel, and good balance is key to putting together a lap, as you need downforce on the long, fast straights and then stability and traction through the lower-speed corners. It's a more extreme version of Australia in many ways, with the track starting off very dirty and rubbering in over the weekend.

"While that makes the track faster, we also have to juggle the rapidly cooling temperatures on race day after the sun sets."