Button raring to go

The Honda Racing driver was speaking on stage at the Grosvenor House event as he presented awards - and admitted that it was likely to be on the only chance he would get to stand in the limelight tonight.

"For me it's nice to be up stage after this year..." he said, referring to his disappointing campaign.

When asked about his preparations for the next season, he said: "Personally I think I am working very hard. I've been in Lanzarote, which doesn't sound like a good place to train because it's normally a holiday resort, but I've been training there for 12 days. It was awesome.

"It was fantastic and it was a great way to start the season."

And batting off jokes from fellow award presenter David Coulthard and host Steve Rider about his failure to win after six seasons in the sport, Button said: "I've done 100 races at the moment and I'm just warming up to it. I'm just getting myself ready."