Jenson Button on his Formula 1 career

Jenson Button announced at Monza on Saturday that he will step down from race duties with McLaren in Formula 1 for the 2017 season, remaining with the team as an ambassador and reserve driver with the option to return to the F1 grid in the future.

It means Button, who will make his 300th start later this year in Malaysia, could have just seven races left in his F1 career after this weekend.

Last weekend at Spa Autosport was invited to a small group interview with Button, part of which became a reflective conversation about his career up to that point.

With the 2009 world champion leaving the grid at the end of the '16 season, here is what he said about several significant moments from his 17 years in F1.

JENSON BUTTON ON...

...APPROACHING 300 STARTS IN F1

When I started in Formula 1, I didn't think I would be racing when I was 30 years old so to be 36 and still racing...time really does fly, it's amazing how quickly the years go by.

It seems when you start the season with an uncompetitive car, you are already thinking about the next one even before the first race of that season. I've had lots of good times, I've had some tough times as well but I must say I've had more good times than bad times in my career and to reach 300 grands prix is pretty awesome.

It's not an aim when you start in F1 but it's a nice achievement to be around for that long and go through so many years and to see so much change. From V10s, to V8s to V6s, to the electric power, it's very big changes and to go through different tyre manufacturers, different teams, you learn a lot.

That's what keeps drivers here for a long time because there is always more to learn.

...UPSETTING EARLY TEAM-MATES

Well, in terms of atmosphere in the team, Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve were tough. I was young and they didn't like the young driver doing well, it made the atmosphere very difficult.

It was probably more difficult with Jacques than with Ralf. BAR was Jacques' team, so a young kid coming in and racing him...but by mid-season it was fine and the atmosphere was great and we had a lot of fun together. At the start of the year, it was very tricky.

...STRUGGLING WITH BENETTON IN 2001

The first year of Benetton was pretty awful, the second year was pretty good. I came from a car at Williams that was great and at the end of the year it was a really good atmosphere in the team. I went to Benetton with Flavio [Briatore] and it was a bit of a weird atmosphere. To be fair Flavio was very good at pointing me in the right direction: "Jenson, work harder!"

I must say that [Giancarlo] Fisichella was very good at driving a bad car, that was definitely a strength of his. I think he found it more difficult when he was in a Ferrari than in the Benetton. He was tough to beat.

For me, setting up that car, obviously if I drove it now I would get the best out of it but back then I was completely lost. I don't think my engineers helped at the time. I swapped them over and suddenly the performance was much better and the following year I outscored [Jarno] Trulli and I did a pretty good job.

That's how I got the BAR drive for 2003. DR [David Richards] picked me up because he saw the results in 2002, there was no other reason for him to. He changed my way of working and my understanding of a racing car. I felt I got the maximum out of the car in 2002 and DR saw the change, that's why he picked me up.

...TAKING HIS FIRST F1 PODIUM

It's never a relief, it's just a very special feeling. My first podium was obviously in Malaysia and that's where my 300th GP is going to be. It's a pretty special place, lots of great memories. I won there in my championship winning year as well, the second race of the year.

...HIS MAIDEN GP VICTORY IN 2006

I don't think it's ever a surprise. That season it was like we couldn't do any wrong, we were always fighting for a podium, it came easy to us. Then you have years where you think you have a competitive car but you do whatever you can and you never get on the podium.

2006 was a good year because we were consistently fighting for podiums but I suppose we didn't think we were good enough to win and we probably weren't on a normal day.

That weekend in Hungary started off tough as well, we had an engine penalty and started 14th. With the mixed conditions, a few incidents, we won the race by 30 seconds. Great win, that's 10 years ago now and that was Honda's last win. The only win as a full Honda team since 1967.

...WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY WITH BRAWN IN 2009

If they were going to make a movie about F1...everybody loves the story about small teams fighting it out in front and winning. It's such a special story.

From having no team whatsoever to winning the first few races and then having some really tough races and winning at the end driving through the field, it makes it very special.

And I have my car as well which is pretty awesome. I have one of the cars, they built three, and it's got an engine in so it's a full running V8 car. Pretty awesome. Ross Brawn has one and Mercedes has the other one.

...WINNING FROM THE BACK IN CANADA 2011

I had a drive-through, I broke my front wing and got a puncture and I crashed with Lewis [Hamilton] as well so a pretty fraught race, action packed. It's one of those races that teaches you never to give up.

I started seventh, was last twice and came through to win on the last lap. It's one of those dream races in the end. There were so many times when I thought it was over, we're not going to have a good race, we're probably going to retire, I thought there might be more damage.

It's about staying strong, staying focused and having the never give up attitude that you have to have in F1. Obviously the car was very good as well, the team did a great job of making sure that the brakes were working and up to temperature in those tricky conditions so we had a lot more tyre temperature than other people and I could really work the car in tricky conditions.

When I was behind Sebastian [Vettel, fighting for the lead] he started pushing. It was going to be tough to beat him because he was able to get a lot out of his tyres, he got them working, he got the temperature in them.

If he didn't make that mistake [on the final lap], maybe I would have got him onto the straight into last chicane, I don't know. It doesn't really matter, he made the mistake because I pushed him. A pretty crazy way to finish that grand prix after five hours.

...HIS FAVOURITE F1 CAR

You would expect me to say the 2009 Brawn car. It's between a few cars. 2009 was obviously special but 2004 [pictured] was awesome, with V10s, 900bhp, revving to 21,000rpm and a tyre war. They were just awesome to drive. I got my first pole position with that car in Imola.

In the V8 era the best was probably 2011 with the blown diffusers, they were just immense the amount of grip you had, it would make you laugh the whole time, so much grip to play with. In qualifying, we had 90% open throttle the whole lap blowing gas onto the diffuser, it's almost 100 points of downforce which is just massive. They were great bits of kit that year.

...LEWIS HAMILTON AND FERNANDO ALONSO

Lewis for me is the quickest team-mate I've had but the most complete is Fernando. Lewis has grown as a driver since those days [2010-2012], he is in more of a comfortable situation.

When we were team-mates, he could get flustered quite easily if I was working with the team well or I suddenly pulled out a good lap in qualifying like Spa in 2012. He seems to be a lot more relaxed and confident in himself now at Mercedes. He has calmed down, he's found himself a lot more.

The thing with Lewis, he could be massively quick in qualifying and you would think 'where the hell did that come from?' but he could also be a long way off. You could see his talent, but it wasn't controlled enough. So suddenly he beats you by four tenths in qualifying and it's like 'I don't know where that comes from'.

Then in the race, he disappears and you are leading the race and you are like 'where's he gone?'. It was inconsistent, but unbelievably quick. Possibly the quickest guy to drive an F1 car, maybe Senna - you can never compare really - that I've seen race in F1.

But the most rounded driver that I have raced against would be Fernando in terms of the way he works with the team. He's very intelligent, he knows how to get his way but also the way he works with a car in the race.

In a race situation, Fernando is always there, whether he's in front of you or behind you, he's always right there. You can't get rid of him. That's tough but it's also really exciting. I'm really happy with the last couple of years I've been able to work with him and see how he works, but also race against him and see how tough he is.