Jenson Button has confirmed that he has yet to sign a new deal with Honda but is hopeful of sorting it out "soon".

However, Button is wary of coming under pressure for his seat when two GP2 drivers test in Barcelona this week.

In the first off-season test, Honda will run both Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi with the intention of maybe signing one of them for next year's championship.

However, whoever gets the seat is expected to replace Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello and not the Brit even though he has yet to sign a new contract.

"I haven't signed anything, but they (Honda) know how I feel and I think I know how they feel. Hopefully we'll sort something out soon," he told Eurosport.

"Bruno and Lucas are both testing in Barcelona and it'll be interesting to see how they cope with it.

"These days for drivers in GP2 it's not such a big leap: the GP2 car is only six or seven seconds slower than an F1 car and probably not that much slower than our car last season. And it's slick tyres that they race on, so very similar to next year."

However, should he be offered a new deal, as Honda chief executive Nick Fry has hinted, Button is expecting a better performance from Honda after suffering more lows than highs over the course of the past two season.

"The last couple of years have been tough," he said. "I couldn't even see a future for the team. I pushed hard to get Ross (Brawn) on board because we were lacking in technical understanding and leadership.

"There were areas within the team that were not very strong and he has positioned the talented people within Honda in other roles, not just brought in new people.

"It's really working: You can't see it on the circuit with the car, but at the factory the atmosphere is very positive.

"We haven't been working on this car since the fourth or fifth race - it makes me look bad, but I can put up with that if we build a good car next year."

The Brit reckons the new 2009 regulations, which Honda have been concentrating on for the past nine months, should help the team in their bid to get closer to the front of the pack.

"There's a lot of regulation changes: we have the aerodynamics, adjustable front wings - which will be interesting - slick tyres and KERS," he continued.

"The changes are good news for us. They mean we're not in a situation where we are three years behind everyone: (usually) you can't catch up in one year, it takes three or four - if you catch up at all.

"They are positive rule changes, which will help the racing. Whether we will be on the podium though or winning races we won't know until we see how the other teams have progressed.

"(But) we have no excuses next year, none of us. It's a completely new season and new regulations; then 2010 is the crunch year: if we are not winning by then, something has got to change."