Jenson Button says McLaren needs to maintain both short- and long-term goals about its project with Honda now it finally has points next to its name.
Button scored McLaren-Honda's first points since the reforming of their partnership this season in Monte Carlo, though Canada's circuit is likely to once again highlight the team's power unit deficiencies. The team has been making progress at every race but remains a long way off the front of the pack.
"I think Monaco for us at the moment is a standout race because it is low-speed corners - which I think we're stronger in than high-speed corners - but also scoring four points six races in, you've got to take it," Button said. "You've got to enjoy the moment. We're used to winning but we're not winning. So for us to sit there and say 'well it doesn't really mean much unless we're winning', we're going to be depressed for a little while if that's the case!
"So you've got to have stepping stones to greater things. Our main goal is to win a world championship, it's not even just to win races, it's to win the world championship. You've got to have little goals on the way and I think the whole team were very happy with what happened that weekend. Especially Honda, I think it's their first points since 2008 so it's been a while, and I think it did give everyone that little confidence boost."
Honda has spent two development tokens ahead of this race but Button thinks reliability is still as important as performance at this stage.
"With the issues we've had in races, my issues in Bahrain and Fernando's the last two races, we all want performance but you've got to be able to get to the end of the race as well. It's a real balance and a difficult balancing act because we all want to move forward and every race we're asked questions about 'Where are you going to end up? How much quicker are you going to be?' and it's a tricky one trying to balance it all."
Button expects the configuration of Montreal's F1 circuit to make it a more challenging weekend for McLaren.
"A slightly tougher weekend than Monaco. I mean Canada is a great circuit and there's always a lot of action here, it's not a predictable race whatsoever. I think we've just got to get stuck in, get on with our plan and see where we are. Obviously there are long straights here, I think we've made some positive improvements, whether it's enough or not we'll have to wait and see."