Button Still Excited about Rest of Season

"The championship is pretty much gone," Button said in Barcelona, where he will remain tomorrow to carry out Paddock Club PR duties before leaving ahead of Sunday's race. "I had worked it out that I had to beat [Fernando] Alonso by two points at every race and I thought that was reasonable.

"But to come back from this is pretty much impossible. Ferrari will be strong for the rest of the year and I think we just need to show how strong a team we are.

"Three races ago I wouldn't have said we were on the verge of winning races or Championships but now I'd say we've got a car that has really improved over the last three or four weeks. And it will keep improving. This team is very good at bringing new parts to the car.

"I'm very excited about the rest of the season and by the time we get to Nurburgring the whole team will be champing at the bit and I can't wait to get out there."

After BAR's improvement in form at Imola, Button tested impressively at Mugello and is convinced that the team have front-running potential when they return after their ban. 

"I was staggered by the step forward that we had made," he explained. "The engineers were very excited too and I really thought that we could come to Barcelona and challenge for a win. So to get here and get the news was a real shock to everyone. Nobody expected that decision.

"Monaco will be a tough one for me - being there and not going out at what is such a spectacular event and basically my home Grand Prix."

Contrary to the feelings of most F1 technical men, FIA president Max Mosley said in Spain that he doubted either Button or BAR teammate Takuma Sato were aware of the workings of the illegal BAR fuel system.

Button himself refused to be drawn on the subject but said that the ban would not impact negatively on decisions over his future with the team.

"There's a lot more to be done before any decision is made," he said. "This sort of thing is not something that makes you want to walk away from a team. Everything that we have done has been within the limits."

Button denied that the ban might detract from his 2004 achievements if the perception is that BAR were running illegally last year too. 

"You could think that if we weren't going out on the circuit again," he conceded, "but as soon as we get to Nurburgring people will realise that it's not a bad car and that BAR is a very good team with a lot of exceptional people. I think the ban might even help motivation.

"It won't be a case of revenge but it will be nice to show how strong we are and that the pace is down to the team.

"The Championship might have gone but the aim this year was to win races and so we've got to stick with that and go for it - go to Nurburgring and destroy everyone."