Jenson Button says making Q3 in Bahrain has to be the aim for McLaren after registering the team's "best day for a couple of years" on Friday.
Button claimed a surprise third position in FP2, 1.2s behind Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, as Ferrari faltered. Though headline times can be misleading in practice sessions due to the differences in fuel loads and engine modes Button says the team has to take it as face value and target Q3, which has been narrowed down to eight cars under the new qualifying rules.
"I think when you're third in P2 it's not because of changeable conditions or anything, you've got to be thinking of getting into Q3 -- it has to be the aim," he said on Friday evening. "If you look at how far off we are off the Mercedes that's the time you've got to gauge really.
"There will be cars that slip in between us tomorrow but you've got to say that it's was a good day for us -- the best day for a couple of years. It's a good start, we didn't do anything unusual, and hopefully we can continue to improve tomorrow."
Button only ran on the medium and the super-soft tyre -- with Stoffel Vandoorne running on the softs in the other McLaren -- and admits there is still a lot of work for McLaren to conduct on the longer runs during Saturday's final practice session.
"The car doesn't feel too bad, I came from the backup [medium] tyre to the super-soft which is a big leap -- I think it was 3.2 seconds so -- it's obviously going to feel good and you're probably not going to get everything out of it, but the balance is reasonable and the car is feeling nice around here.
"It feels definitely better than Melbourne. Long run - some areas need a bit of work, especially on the harder compound but the super-soft was reasonably good so it's a nice place to be, a nice place to start, positive start but still, as always with everyone, there is still work to be done overnight."