If, as expected, Jenson Button races to a maiden win on home soil in the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton will lead the applause as his rival takes another step towards a world title which has already slipped from the grasp of the sport's youngest ever champion.

Button is nailed on to be the new world champion whatever the result on Sunday, but he had better make the most of the plaudits because as far as Hamilton is concerned he should consider the title to be on loan.

Hamilton believes he will emerge stronger from the adversities of a disastrous season in which he has admitted deliberately misleading grand prix officials and has struggled for points in a surprisingly uncompetitive McLaren.

The 24-year-old is so determined to win a second title in 2010 that he is already sitting in on technical meetings and having a major say in the design of McLaren's next car.

Hamilton was speaking at the London headquarters of Abbey, who are now part of the Santander group who sponsor McLaren, where a wall has been turned into a giant illustrated roll of honour for home winners of the British Grand Prix.

If Sunday's race goes to form, Button's portrait will go up there alongside those of Hamilton, David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, John Watson, Sir Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Peter Collins and Sir Stirling Moss.

And no one would be more delighted than Hamilton, whose sensational drive to the chequered flag in torrential rain last July equipped him to appreciate just what victory will mean to Button.

He said: "It will be very emotional for Jenson, to finally get to Silverstone and be able to show what he can do.

"It has been tough for him, driving round at the back of the grid in Silverstone Grands Prix and not having the chance to win like so many of the great Brits have done. He'll feel so proud if it happens this weekend.

"I admire anyone who is able to do what we do and win. But to win consistently and in style takes a lot of effort, hard work, and real talent."

Button's talent has blossomed thanks to a Brawn GP car that is a class apart from the rest of the pack, enabling its 29-year-old driver to claim victory in six out of seven races.

This time last season Hamilton had scored 38 points on his way to a historic title.

By sorry comparison, going into Sunday's Grand Prix he has just nine points. That's a haul kept down into single figures by disqualification from third place in Australia, where Hamilton and McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan lied to officials investigating an overtaking manoeuvre by Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Like a boxer suffering his first defeat after a long string of victories, Hamilton has clearly been surprised by the manner in which his glorious rise through the motor racing ranks has suddenly been dealt a series of bruising blows.

But he takes a philosophical view of the change in his fortunes.

Hamilton said: "You learn how it can affect you. You learn about yourself, about people around you, and you learn how to deal with it.

"You learn how to control your emotions and make them flow to the right areas, in the right ways. When you're winning, life's like a smooth, straight line. But when things start going bad, it becomes a spiral of different energies and you have to learn to get things cool again.

"I definitely feel I'm coming out of this stronger. People around me, my family, have seen that. Sure, I know there are going to be times in the future when life will get hard again. But what I'm learning now will help me fight it."

Even though he knows he will be a supporting act to Button at Silverstone, you can see he is already excited about next year.

Talking about his input during planning for next season he said: "Clearly I don't design, I'm not an aerodynamicist or anything like that. But I have ideas about things that I believe will work.

"The technical guys are so intelligent. But even the most intelligent of people sometimes miss things. So I try to help in any way I can.

"I should stress, the guys with the brains make the decisions. But when I sit in the technical meeting I might suggest going down a certain set-up route. I know from driving the car where we need to be."

Hamilton cast another glance at the Wall of Fame and the photo of him holding the trophy aloft at Silverstone last July.

He said: "That picture you see, that trophy I'm holding, represents some truly incredible people - my dad, my mum, my brother - who have encouraged me and supported me through think and thin, who could easily have doubted me.

"It was an achievement from all their hard work, and we did it together. No-one can take that away from us."