Button could be replaced

Briton Jenson Button is hopeful of retaining his drive with Honda in 2009 – but knows the younger, skilled contenders that will test with the squad this month have the ability to take his seat.

Honda struggled to compete with their 2008 car as they concentrated on development for 2009, leaving Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello frustrated.

The Japanese outfit are yet to announce their driver lineup for next season, and will give tests to GP2 pair Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi in the next two weeks.

Button, appearing at a media briefing for the Race of Champions event at Wembley Stadium, paused when asked about his future.

"I don't know how to answer that one really," he finally answered. "I'm going testing in a couple of weeks, which is positive, I guess."

Speaking afterwards to Eurosport, he said: "I haven't signed anything, but they (Honda) know how I feel and I think I know how they feel. Hopefully we'll sort something out soon.

"Bruno and Lucas are both testing in Barcelona and it'll be interesting to see how they cope with it.

"These days for drivers in GP2 it's not such a big leap: the GP2 car is only six or seven seconds slower than an F1 car and probably not that much slower than our car last season. And it's slick tires that they race on, so very similar to next year." More at Yahoo! Sports