Button prays for rain and action replay

Jenson Button, on the first anniversary of his sole victory here on a track as slippy as a bar of soap, would give anything to swap places with rookie Hamilton who has usurped him as the nation's darling of the track.

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If only he was heading into Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix protecting a two-point championship lead over Alonso with the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen 11 and 18 points behind respectively.

It was not meant to be like this for Button. His breakthrough victory in the rain was seen as a prelude to more success. But 15 races on, it has not worked out.

His Honda is simply not fast enough, though his confidence remains intact, especially after his drive from 19th on the grid to fourth inside two laps of the rain-lashed European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring a fortnight ago.

Button, 27, said: 'I am going to be big-headed about it and say I haven't seen anything like it. I feel I am a more experienced and rounded driver.'

Has he any chance tomorrow?

'Hopefully, it will be raining on Sunday, ' he said. ' There is noreason why we then couldn't have a repeat of last year. That would be fantastic.'

Sadly, the forecast predicts sun, in which case Button has another trick up his sleeve. 'I've got a few friends here so I might get them to run around the circuit with big buckets. I just love those conditions, finding the limit of the car,' he said.

Last year's celebrations were cut short because he was required for sponsorship work in China, a problem he promises to avoid. He said: 'I definitely won't be going to Shanghai. If I win, I'll be in the gutter.'

Hamilton's optimism is founded on firmer evidence. He finished the day third fastest, fourtenths of a second adrift of Alonso, with Raikonnen six-tenths short of the pacesetter and Massa seven-tenths away.

Hamilton said: 'Today went smoothly, apart from my spin towards the end of the second session which meant that I missed out on my last run, so maybe I could have gone faster. The spin happened as I was catching Sakon Yamamoto on a flying lap and I was probably a little too fast going into the corner. Despite this we were able to make some positive steps and I am confident with our performance so far at this track.'