Honda boss Ross Brawn is confident his team have taken the first step towards success.

The Japanese manufacturers collected their first points of the season, and of the Brawn era, with Jenson Button's sixth-placed finish at the Spanish Grand Prix 11 days ago.

In many respects, the result was ahead of schedule as Honda were not expected to be challenging consistently until later in the year.

But with former Ferrari technical guru Brawn at the helm, Honda are clearly reaping the rewards of his leadership.

The team find themselves in a congested mid-ranking scrap with Red Bull, Renault, Toyota and Williams, with Brawn hopeful of making further progress at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix.

"We were extremely pleased to pick up our first points of the season in Barcelona," said Brawn.

"It was just reward for the efforts that everyone has put in over the last few months.

"We took many positives from the race weekend, including the good performance of the new aero(dynamic) package and our strategy working well, with the execution of the pit stops especially good.

"Of course there are challenges to be overcome. However, I am confident we have the right attitude and commitment to resolve these.

"There is tremendous potential in this team, and our three points in Barcelona was the first step at the start of a very intense few months of racing."

Brawn feels the Istanbul Park circuit will suit his car, adding: "It is a great race track our drivers really enjoy.

"We will have some small refinements to the car and aero package to suit the characteristics of this particular circuit.

"I am expecting the car to perform slightly better here than in Barcelona, where we suffered with ride quality over the bumpy surface.

"So I believe we can look forward to challenging for the top 10 in qualifying and hopefully scoring points again."

Button shares Brawn's enthusiasm for the circuit, which is anti-clockwise — one of only three such tracks on the calendar this year — and the improved car.

"This race is one of my favourites, and I've had a couple of good results here in 2005 and 2006, finishing in the top five on both occasions," said Button.

"After the race in Spain, where the new aero package definitely gave us a performance improvement over the weekend, it's good to know we are improving the car step by step.

"I developed a good understanding of the new developments, so with the car here essentially the same package, our focus will be getting into Q3 and qualifying in the top 10.

"With Turkey a circuit I have always been competitive at, and really enjoyed driving, I am hopeful we will have a good race."