In the wake of a convincing win in Melbourne, Jenson Button has revealed that there were times during the last three months when he seriously thought his time in F1 was at an end.

For three long months, following the shock announcement on December 5 that Honda was to quit the sport, Button waited anxiously, his hopes resting on Nick Fry and Ross Brawn being able to find a buyer for the beleaguered Brackley outfit. With no other serious drives on offer, the 29-year-old's hopes rested entirely on the Brackley team being saved.

"I've had a pretty dark time," he told the Times, "not just this winter but last season was pretty tough. You sit down a lot on your own. It's not good being on your own when things aren't going well because I think about things too much and that made it very difficult."

In an effort to take his mind off the worst case scenario, and to also remain razor-sharp should a buyer be found, Button devoted himself to keeping fit.

"I was working my arse off in training and it's been a good thing that I've got a passion for a sport like triathlon because it has kept me busy and kept my mind away from thoughts like, 'This could be it, this could be the end of my career in Formula One'."

Naturally, he kept fully up to speed, not just in terms of how the sale of the Brackley team was going, but what was happening in F1 in general. He admits that much of what he read disappointed him, to put it mildly, for it is widely perceived that he was partly responsible for his lack of results over the last two seasons. However, rather than run to the press complaining, the Englishman kept quiet, opting to play a waiting game and eventually prove the critics wrong. He did.

"It got very stressful and it's very difficult to read and you want to say your piece. But it's not going to help anything because, if people don't believe in you initially, they are not going to believe what you have to say, if you are not quick in the car. So it was best to keep quiet and just keep working with the team."

Now he's back, and how. On Sunday, the worst fears of rival teams and drivers were realized when Button led a convincing Brawn 1-2 in Melbourne. As a result some are already tipping the Englishman to go all the way and win the title.

"The good thing is we have proved we have a good car and we've proved we can win races and that worry is not there any more," he said. "Now we've just got to make sure that we have the perfect weekend in Malaysia because the other guys are breathing down our necks, it's not going to be a runaway victory."

Finally, as some claim the team is not the small independent outfit it would have us believe, insisting that Honda continues to bankroll the operation, Button says that this is not true, far from it, that the team needs new investors.

"We haven't got the budget," insists the two-time GP winner, who is looking to make it three this weekend in Malaysia. "Hopefully we will; hopefully we've got some people that will take an interest in what we've done."