Button denies McLaren's season is "terrible"

Both Button and teammate Fernando Alonso failed to finish the race due to issues with the exhausts, having struggling for pace since the start.

Alonso has retired with car problems in the last three races, and he is yet to score a point this year.

Button, who enjoyed his strongest race of the season in Monaco two weeks ago, said it would be easy to label McLaren's season as terrible, but he reckons the progress made so far shows the team is moving forward.

"Monaco was a good weekend and I'm happy to score points there, but I think it's unfair to say it's been a bad season except for Monaco, because we've been improving every race with at least one of the cars," said Button.

"There's been improvement all the way except for today. Today is a tough day but it was always going to be really tough for us due to the layout of the circuit. Hopefully we'll be back on track in Austria.

"It's easy to look and go 'Oh, it's a terrible season' for McLaren-Honda. It's not the case.

"We've improved massively this year. I think we should be happy with what we've done. But you have difficult days, and that's always the way when you are staring an exciting project and starting from zero.

"There's no way another manufacturer, or someone else with a Mercedes engine, will win the world championship. Ferrari is the only team that can and we possibly can in the future."

Canada race "not a lot of fun"

Button, who started last after being unable to take part in qualifying, had to serve a drive-through penalty on the first lap.

He admitted retiring from the race was quite a relief.

"The car didn't feel too bad, but you are getting lapped and saving fuel and you are on your own, so it's not a lot of fun.

"But when you start last and have a drive-through on your first lap it's tricky because you get caught by the leaders quicker."