"Challenging for wins" was the oft-repeated maxim when Honda launched their 2006 challenge in Barcelona in January.

Four months is a very long time in Formula One Jenson Button and co would be delighted just to reach the podium in Spain this weekend after their pre-season optimism fell flat.

The 26-year-old has driven as well as ever this campaign, his superb qualifying record offers a tantalising glimpse of the speed he is capable of, but the key to his trophy cabinet has gathered dust recently.

New team-mate Rubens Barrichello was supposed to complete a dream team behind the wheel, with team boss Nick Fry confident he had "the best team of drivers on the grid".

A solitary podium, for Button in Malaysia, is not the reward Honda expected from the opening five races, much less the yawning 43-point gap to the Enstone-based leaders Renault in the constructors' championship.

Button concedes he would have been happy with fifth place at the Nurburgring last weekend, a small satisfaction he was denied by a rare Honda engine failure.

Barrichello was indeed pleased to inherit fifth, the highlight so far of his brief career with Honda.

Matters need to improve soon if Honda are to justify their own optimism, as well as the expectations of their rivals, who consistently listed the Brackley-based squad as genuine challengers at the start of the season.

World champion Alonso has more faith than Button that Honda will come good this year, tipping them to return to the front any time soon.

He said: "In the first five races everything worked perfectly for Renault and Ferrari but I think McLaren and Honda have the pace. I am sure one weekend it will be right for them."

Alonso's title rival Michael Schumacher, Barrichello's former Ferrari team-mate, would dearly love another team to enter the fray and potentially deny the Spaniard points, but he has little faith in Honda to step up to the plate.

Asked whether Honda are contenders in Spain this weekend, he responded: "Not at the moment. They don't have a competitive package at the moment."

At least Schumacher and Ferrari offer a good example to Honda of how quickly fortunes can change in Formula One.

They were dumped on the championship scrapheap by most observers following a troubled weekend in Australia in round three but responded with a brace of wins to turn up the heat on Renault.

Their post-Australia optimism rang hollow but turned out to be completely justified. Now Honda need to put some meat on the bones of their own optimism.