Jenson Button is refusing to get carried away with McLaren's promising start to the weekend in Russia after it finished FP2 with both cars in the top ten.
Button finished eighth in the afternoon session, two places and two tenths up on teammate Fernando Alonso, as McLaren showed signs it has the pace to end its Q3 drought on Saturday. There was just one tenth covering fifth and eighth positions, suggesting a close fight tomorrow, but Button thinks it is too early to predict whether McLaren will be in the mix.
"We were P8 today and the car felt reasonably good," Button said. "On the prime tyre the car felt even better, I was in P4 or P5 and we didn't get the best out of the car with the option tyre. We are looking forward to see what the car can do this weekend. We're one tenth off P5, but it's only Friday and we've been quick on Fridays before.
"I think we have a positive day but we know we won't be setting the world alight here, it's a tough circuit for us, especially in the race. We'll do our best and hopefully we'll be knocking on the door of Q3 and getting into the points."
Despite the clear improvement made by McLaren this year, the team's only points came from Stoffel Vandoorne's stand-in appearance in Bahrain. Button thinks a place in the top ten on Saturday would be a lift for the whole team and leave the team in an ideal position for the race itself.
"If you can qualify well here, in P8 or something, you're going to take it. I think it would be nice for the team. You can race from there, you're with the quicker cars, you're in the DRS zone, so maybe they can pull you along. But there's also fuel saving to be done here, it's a tricky race for us. Given where we are, we're looking forward to the rest of the weekend."