Zoom Jenson Button

After angrily slamming Honda's 2007 car as a "dog" late last year, Jenson Button has retracted his threat to quit the Japanese team at the end of the forthcoming season.

The 28-year-old Briton said at the launch of the Brackley based squad's 2008 effort, the RA108, that he has been reinvigorated by the recent arrival of lauded former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn as team boss.

"Bringing in Ross has made a big difference. He has so much experience in winning world championships and now we have everything in place to challenge for championships in the future," Button said.

In November last year, Button warned that anything other than a "dramatic improvement" in Honda's form in 2008 would probably lead to his departure. But at the team's Brackley factory on Tuesday, he said : "At the moment, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in formula one. I am the happiest I have been probably in this team. All thoughts of leaving have gone."

Button openly acknowledges that the RA108, which was designed before Brawn's arrival at Honda, is not going to challenge McLaren and Ferrari for wins. "But for the future in the sport, I can't think of anywhere better to be than here at Honda," he added.

Button did admit, however, that his management is due to hold contract talks with Honda officials towards the end of the year. "At the end of this year I'm sure we'll be talking," he confirmed.

But he denied that his management had earlier scoured the finer print of his existing deal to find a way out for 2008. "It was never an option to not be here. I knew that Honda wouldn't just sit around in the position we were in last season. I knew that something would change," Button said.

Source GMM
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