Jenson: Fisi should stay here

The 21-year-old Brit is hoping Fisichella will opt to remain at the team even though the Italian has outgunned him this season.

Fisichella was due to have further talks over his future with team boss Flavio Briatore in Hungary on Thursday evening after Renault decided not to take up his contract on Wednesday.

Benetton's other leading option is Jordan ace Jarno Trulli, with whom Button had several run-ins last year, and Jordan have tabled an offer for Fisichella too.

"I'm hoping Giancarlo will be my team mate for next season," said Button. "We work together well, and there's no reason for change. We have a good working relationship, which I think is important in a team because there is a good atmosphere, and it means there's continuity throughout the winter."

The duo finished fourth and fifth at the last round in Germany nearly three weeks ago and Button got his first helping of points.

"Hockenheim was a big boost. It helped everyone because prior to that they had got hardly anything from this year, despite putting so much work in. I was so happy after the race. I could have got fourth, which was a possibility, but to get fifth at this stage in the season when I never expected to pick up a point was good enough for me.

"In many respects getting points in the last race meant more to me than Silverstone last year because it had been so long - 11 races. I was thinking 'geez, is it going to happen.' But it was a strange race, and although I think the car and the changes we've made will work well here, I think to get a result will be tough."

Benetton will use power steering for the first time this season and the young Englishman believes the driver aid arrives not a moment too soon.

"It will help big time," he said. "You definitely need it here in this race because there's turn after turn after turn. Here it will just be a nightmare without it. It will make things easier on my shoulder. The problem I had earlier in the season was due to the fact I wasn't used to being without power steering.

"It was pretty tough because last year I had power steering with the Williams, and going to a car which didn't was pretty difficult. Now we have it and it's run fine in testing, so I'm looking forward to using it. It won't make a huge difference in qualifying, but over a race distance it's huge."

Button said the omens for qualifying on the twisting Hungaroring circuit were not good, but the race could be a different story.

"We're not going to qualify well, definitely not. But the car seems to like this kind of circuit, so we will see what happens in the race. You never know, we might have a good race."