Button concedes Honda are still chasing solutions and expects little rest as he works to improve his lot.

“It’s not looking too bad,” he said. “The car is not there yet, there is a lot of work to do to get it the way I like but I’m sure we’ll get there tomorrow.

“It’s very similar to Malaysia when we made a lot of set-up changes and suddenly the car came good.

“We know what the issues are and we know we can solve them. Hopefully we can be on the pace tomorrow and I think we will be.”

Button has a strong record at Imola, where he claimed his first Formula One pole position in 2004.

Despite his Melbourne disappointment, which ended with a blown engine yards from the chequered flag, Button is convinced he can return to the podium this weekend.

While he accepts a challenge to the dominant Renaults is unlikely, he still expects to win the battle to be best of the rest.

He added: “I think Renault are going to be very strong here as they have been all season.

“I think McLaren and Ferrari will be easy. I think we will be competitive with them, it’s just whether we are competitive with Renault.

“I haven’t qualified outside the top three this year so that’s got to be the target.”

Button may have Ferrari in his sights but their star driver Michael Schumacher has loftier ambitions and wants a return to winning ways.

As Button was languishing in 11th place in second practice, Schumacher left Imola having set the fastest time of the opening day, an impressive effort in the first session.

With his Bridgestone tyres expected to give him an edge over his Michelin-backed rivals, Schumacher has an air of optimism around him not seen since his record-breaking 2004 campaign.

The only bright spot in a dismal 2005 came with second place at Imola and he expects his championship hopes to be given a much-needed shot in the arm on Ferrari’s home ground.

He said: “Let’s say at least we don’t have any reason to be pessimistic. It’s hard to quantify but you really have to say the car is more efficient and that is faster.

“To my eyes yes, we can fight for victory.

“To be honest we were never really slow this season except for Malaysia where we were too slow.

“Even in Melbourne we were fast enough. The problem was that we were fast enough only in the laps when our tyres were working and unfortunately they didn’t work all the time.

“We were happy with today. The car is going very well. The whole package has improved – in all areas we have found solutions and improvements.”

Schumacher was fastest in the morning practice but had to accept second best this afternoon, when world champion Fernando Alonso nicked top spot late in the session.

Renault have dominated so far this season but Alonso admitted more work needs to be done this weekend if they are to remain unbeaten.

The Spaniard said: “We are not there yet, and we are suffering from too much understeer at the moment. “If we can make some good changes tonight, though, I think we will be a in a strong situation for the race.”