Button looks to the future as Hamilton dominates practice

Lewis Hamilton stole the headlines again here yesterday, setting the fastest times in both practice sessions in his McLaren Mercedes. But Jenson Button, once the darling of the British media, remained his usual upbeat self and continued to lift his sights to a 2009 horizon rather than crying over all the performance milk Honda have spilled this season.

Meanwhile, Honda's team principal Ross Brawn moved to dampen speculation that the team will change their driver line-up, stressing that the immediate plan is to build a better car rather than look for changes in the cockpit.

"If we produce a good car, then they can produce from their side," he told Formula1.com. "We are not looking at anything major on the driver side – our main priority is the car."

On the face of it, staying with a team who mustered only 13th and 14th fastest times here yesterday, a second and a half off Hamilton, might not seem the most promising strategy, but Button knows how much Brawn contributed to Michael Schumacher's phenomenal run of success at Ferrari.

The Englishman moved to Honda this year after a sabbatical upon leaving Ferrari when Schumacher retired in 2006, and while he has been moving the furniture behind the scenes as he makes sure that the team have the right people on board, the true impact of his changes will not be felt until the 2009 Honda rolls out next year. "I don't think there is another team that any driver could drive for that is going to do a better job than this team next season," Button told autosport.com. "You never know where Ferrari and McLaren are going to be.

"They have been very strong over the last few years, so you can't really count them out. And to get on their pace next year, here at Honda, is a big step forward. But with such big rule changes coming I think it's possible."

Honda Racing have been targeting both the former world champion Fernando Alonso and his former Renault team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who is currently Hamilton's partner at McLaren. But both seem destined to race elsewhere, Alonso either with Ferrari, BMW Sauber or Renault again, Kovalainen with McLaren or Renault.

"I think this is a good place to be and that is why I'm sure other top drivers in Formula One who aren't in a Ferrari or a McLaren would be interested in driving here next year," Button said.

"They know that Ross has achieved a lot in the past. For sure it is not just down to one man, but they know that he knows what it takes to be world champion.

"It's not like a driver knowing what it takes, because while he has his input, it's nowhere near as much as a technical director or a team principal.

"Ross is controlling the team very well and putting people in the right places to do their jobs correctly, and making sure that we are all working together as we should be.

"He knows the areas that we needed to improve in, which have improved a lot already this season. So I have no worries about the team for the future."

In 2000 Button was deemed the man most likely to deliver Britain's next world championship, but his career was derailed when the BMW Williams team took Champ Car champion Juan Pablo Montoya and he had to move to Renault, where he was replaced by Fernando Alonso for 2003.

That prompted his move to BAR Honda, where he starred in 2004 after uncertainty over his contractual situation with Williams.

Since then, however, Honda have consistently failed to deliver despite a glorious championship heritage in the Eighties and Nineties.

"Last year I was pretty upset with the way things were going," he admitted. "I knew that something had to change or else I wasn't going to be happy here. The whole team realised that things needed to change, so they did.

"Employing someone like Ross is a massive change to the team and, for Honda to realise that we need someone like that, is a big thing also. It made everyone in the team realise how focused Honda were."

Hamilton, meanwhile, was happy to outrun the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. "The car felt quite different this afternoon compared to this morning's running.

"Maybe the wind had picked up or changed direction, but the car didn't feel as stable. But by the end of the session it felt a lot more consistent. We found a good direction with the tyres and the set-up so things look positive."

Massa was unmoved, however. "We were always competitive, as were our main rivals," he said. "It won't be a stroll in the park but we can take them on."

Hockenheim practice times

First session:

1 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1min 15.537sec; 2 H Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.666; 3 F Massa (Br) Ferrari 1:15.796; 4 F Alonso (Sp) Renault 1:16.163; 5 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:16.327; 6 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:16.606; 7 S Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.618; 8 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:16.719; 9 K Nakajima (Japan) Williams-Toyota 1:16.821; 10 N Piquet (Br) Renault 1:17.063; 11 D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:17.108; 12 J Button (GB) Honda 1:17.131; 13 T Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:17.185; 14 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:17.268; 15 G Fisichella (It) Force India-Ferrari 1:17.471; 16 R Barrichello (Br) Honda 1:17.500; 17 J Trulli (It) Toyota 1:17.556; 18 A Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:17.784; 19 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:18.779; 20 S Bourdais (Fr) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.506.

Second session:

1 Hamilton 1min 15.025sec (136.377mph); 2 Massa 1:15.722; 3 Raikkonen 1:15.760; 4 Kovalainen 1:15.990; 5 Webber 1:16.017; 6 Alonso 1:16.230; 7 N Rosberg 1:16.355; 8 Kubica 1:16.363; 9 Heidfeld 1:16.377; 10 Coulthard 1:16.378; 11 Vettel 1:16.422; 12 J Trulli 1:16.530; 13 Button 1:16.542; 14 Barrichello 1:16.677; 15 Piquet Jnr 1:16.734; 16 Glock 1:16.781; 17 Nakajima 1:16.829; 18 Bourdais 1:16.860; 19 Sutil 1:17.008; 20 Fisichella 1:17.047.

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