Grapevine: Button discovers the joys of camping

"I went camping in France with my girlfriend," he told reporters on Friday.

"It was good, except neither of us had ever put up a tent in our lives," added the Honda driver, a Monaco resident more used to a millionaire lifestyle of luxury yachts and five-star hotels.

"We went to ordinary campsites and we stayed in B & Bs (bed and breakfasts) as well," he added of the trip through northern France to the Alps and Italy.

"There were a couple of Brits around, Brits do like camping, we noticed. But nobody really recognised me. We made our tent and hid inside, it was good fun.

"It's nice to do something different. I had more fun staying in a tent than in a hotel."

Despite the change of scene, Button said the outlook for the weekend ahead in Turkey remained as depressing as ever for his struggling team.

"It's going to be a tough weekend, nothing's really changed," he said.

Button has scored Honda's only point of the season so far, a huge disappointment for the Briton after taking his first Grand Prix win with Honda a year ago in Hungary.