Evaluation: McLaren's Hungarian GP

Despite a double points finish for the first time this season for McLaren, the Woking team are not breaking out the champagne just yet.

It's worth remembering in the midst of the chaos that we saw in Hungary, McLaren were inheriting positions courtesy of the numerous penalties the stewards were handing out.

Also the lack of straights at the Hungaroring (average lap speed of around 100mph) meant that the McLaren Honda's power deficit was less of a disadvantage than it was at recent races, such as the power circuits in Canada and Austria. Certainly, when the F1 circus reaches Spa and Monza after the summer break, McLaren will struggle.

But we know that McLaren have a strong chassis, as we saw in Monaco where Jenson Button scored the team's first points of the season. This race has confirmed that, and has also shown that McLaren are keeping up with development on their part.

Button also revealed after the race that he was struggled with tyre degradation towards the end of the race, so he could have been even further into the points had the strategy worked out better.

But we must not forget Honda's target of the weekend, which was to run ERS at 100% for the first time this season. While they may have achieved that, it did not come without issues. Fernando Alonso pushing his car into the pit lane in qualifying may have been a great sight for the fans, but not so much for the engineers and mechanics. Button's mysterious lack of discharge down the pit straight on his final run in Q1 cost him as well.

It's frustrating for the team and fans to know that there is potential behind the lack of reliability.

But Honda are now looking forward. They will be using the summer to spend their remaining engine tokens to develop the power unit and bring an updated version to Spa, with the focus now being on performance rather than reliability. However, do not expect them the Honda to suddenly match the power output of Mercedes or Ferrari, perhaps to level themselves with Renault.

So while McLaren may have lucked into a few extra points in Hungary, progress in most definitely being made. The double points finish seem to have also quietened rumours of McLaren dropping Button for 2016, as it looks increasingly likely that the Brit will stay with the Woking outlet.

#f1