Jenson Button wants McLaren to use its first points finish of the season as a stepping stone to better things after he finished eighth at Monaco.
Button missed an opportunity to compete in Q3 yesterday but grid penalties saw him start from 10th on the grid and he was in points contention from lights out. The 2009 world champion finished on the tail of Sergio Perez and said the points finish was exactly what McLaren needed after its tough start to life with Honda power.
"I was hoping to score points, we scored four," Button said. "It was a good race, an unusual race, when you start tenth you spend the entire race in traffic usually. But here because of [Pastor] Maldonado's problems it split everyone up. I mean it was a flat-out race from lap four so tough race - I really enjoyed it. And it actually became a little physical for once which was nice.
"I didn't expect to finish eighth, it's a good performance and I'm very proud of the whole team, as you know it's been a very difficult year for us. And it's not suddenly going to leap us forward to winning races but this is a stepping stone, hopefully, to a positive future."
It comes just a race after Button said McLaren may struggle to score a point in 2015, something he put down to post-race emotion earlier this week.
"Things are always taken out of context, I said, 'if I had the car I drove today I wouldn't be getting any points'. But if I had that car today, I wouldn't be scoring any points. The car was like it had been for the rest of the year today. I was really happy with the way it felt. Set-up wise I think we were pretty much there with no high-fuel running it's always tricky but we were close to getting it right so I'm really proud of the team, they did a good job, and hopefully this will carry us forward to better things.
"Obviously we're lacking in outright performance but in terms of set-up, it was pretty good. There's a few things we need to work on. But I don't think our pace was too bad compared to the leaders. So I was relatively happy with the day. We tried everything to catch the car in front which was Checo [Perez] and Force India, it wasn't possible, which meat tyre temperatures went through the floor. But a good race, I'm really happy for the team, it's a stepping stone."
Button says he was driving flat out for most of the race.
"It's always tricky to get around the first lap first of all. I got a good start and I was down the outside of Verstappen and he just nudged me into the wall a little bit at the exit of Turn 1, so I backed out and lost a place to Hulkenberg but I was able to get around the outside of him at Turn 3 - which was fun - and then it was just trying to stay out of trouble. When Maldonado had his break problem, eventually got faster and then it was just quali laps all the whole way to the end, which was great. It was physically demanding I would say. It was a good race and I'm happy for the guys."