The world drivers’ championship may have gone for Jenson Button but the McLaren ace still has plenty to race for as he looks to secure second place in the standings (Button 2/9 favourite Drivers Championship W/O Vettel).

Winning races and championships is why the drivers are in the sport – to take a quote from Hollywood, ‘If you’re not first, you’re last’ – but Button believes that finishing runner-up to the outstanding Sebastian Vettel will offer a fair degree of satisfaction.

With just two races left, Button is 13 points clear of Fernando Alonso in third and 19 ahead of Mark Webber in fourth and a win at Abu Dhabi (Button 7/2 Race Winner) will go a long way to sealing second place in the standings.

“It’s nice to know that if I do finish second I will have beaten a Red Bull (Mark Webber), which is good,” said Button.

“Sebastian has done an unbelievable job this year, but he still has a team-mate, and to beat a guy in a Red Bull is great every time.

“And when Fernando (Alonso) is in tune with his car (Ferrari), it’s great to beat him because he is super fast, and then there is also my team-mate (Lewis Hamilton) who is unbelievably quick.

“So yeah, it would be nice to finish in front of them in the championship.”

Practice for the penultimate race of the championship starts on Friday ahead of Sunday’s race with the season set to conclude in Brazil on November 27.