Jenson Button says no progress has been made on a new McLaren contract

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Jenson Button says no progress has been made on a new McLaren contract for 2015, although he reckons they'd like to retain him for a sixth season.

Button is out of contract at the end of the current season, but speaking at the Canadian GP on Thursday the 2009 World Champion re-iterated his desire to stay in F1, saying he feels "fitter than ever".

"No more progress, that's all. But that's the way it is," the 34-year-old, who starts his 254th grand prix this weekend, told reporters. "We're here, we've spent four good years together already - we're in our fifth year together - and we both want, I think, to work together in the future.

"But it's just not time yet - the right time. We've a lot of other issues to solve first before we start thinking about the future too much.

"We're in a good place and I think my experience does help me a lot. I still feel very young at heart, fitter than ever and have all that experience. So I'm in a great position and I feel I've a lot more to give.

"I definitely can't see an end to my career. This is my life and where I want to be in the future."

The other issues Button referred to centre on improving the team's MP4-29 car. Although he was classified third behind team-mate Kevin Magnussen in Australia at the start of the season, McLaren's performance has since gone downhill with neither driver scoring in Bahrain, China or Spain.

An improved result came in Monaco two weeks ago, however, with Button once again playing down comparisons with McLaren's woeful 2013 season.

"From the outside, it doesn't look spectacular, our season this year, and you'd say it looks quite similar to last year. But it's very different," he said.

"In terms of the feel of the car, it's much better; in terms of the development of the car, it is working and we are going in the right direction.

"Also, there are a lot of positives right now, with Ron [Dennis] back in charge and Eric [Boullier], I think they're doing a great job of really moving the team on and changing certain things so that we will be fighting at the front again.

"But it just takes time."

Button, winner at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve three years ago after coming through from the back of the field, is hoping for a good showing on a track he thinks could play to his car's strengths as well as mask its deficiencies.

"It's going to be tricky here; it always is - especially with the cold circuit temperatures that we're probably going to have on Friday. The last corner will be tricky but we're used to that I think," he added.

"We've been driving these cars all year; if we can drive it around Monaco, I think we'll be all right around here.

"The long straights, so we can use the power of the engine - for us it's great with the Mercedes engine.

"But working with the tyres, it's going to be tricky around here. It's supposed to be hot on Sunday, so I think you're going to have to really look after them and I think we're reasonably good at that."