Button: Monaco win 'best so far'

The Briton, who has now won five out of six races this season, admitted afterwards that he was emotional about winning in his home town of Monaco.

"Before the weekend I said that this grand prix doesn't mean anything more than the others, but it was more to stop the pressure on myself - but we know the truth," he said. "To win here is fantastic, this circuit is very different to anything else.

"I struggled at the start of the weekend so it makes it even better to get the victory.

"The victory means a lot and a one-two finish for Brawn is exceptional. The performance of the team here is staggering. I can't wait to see the boys, they are all going to be very emotional."

He added: "This victory was massive for us and it's the best one of the season."

Button built a strong lead in the first stint, and made better use of his super-soft tyres than most of his rivals, and admitted afterwards that he was amazed more drivers hadn't chosen a similar strategy.

"I was surprised when the covers came off and most people were on prime tyres - the harder of the two - we never thought twice about running the option tyre (first)," said Button.

"Near the end of my stint I started struggling with a bit of oversteer, not as bad as Rubens [Barrichello] did, but my times weren't quite good enough and that's why they called me in.

"The prime tyres worked really well here, we expected the softer to be better, but the prime tyre was the race tyre."

"I got off the line clean and had Rubens behind, and he had problems with his rear tyres and I was able to pull a gap. And it didn't change much from there apart from traffic and the normal Monaco things where walls seem to get closer and closer the further you get into the race."

The 29-year-old also revealed that he had to force himself to concentrate on his driving and put to one side thoughts of capturing the biggest win of his career.

"It is very strange feeling because you start backing off a little bit and in reality, as has been said many times before it is the worst thing to do, because you start thinking if I get to the end I am going to win Monaco!" he said. "And that is the worst thing to do.

"I started backing off and so much was going through my mind, it's not that you are not thinking about driving but there is a part of your mind that's thinking about something else. So I had to really concentrate.

"The last two laps were enjoyable as I had a big enough gap and I knew nothing would go wrong with the car and I could enjoy the moment. It's a very special moment."

Button's focus lapsed after the chequered flag however, when he failed to follow traditional protocol at Monaco by parking his car on the start line, instead driving into parc ferme.

This forced him into an impromptu sprint along the pit straight on foot, waving to the crowds all the way: "I'm not very good at parking! The race was pretty tough, but that bit with the helmet on makes you realise how long the pit straight is - but in a way it was the perfect way to end the race!"