Who would have thought that, only 12 months after his maiden win on a memorable and wet afternoon at this fiddly track in the hills outside Budapest, Jenson Button would be where he is now, in the Formula One wilderness?

This time last year there were optimistic predictions that the man who was Britain’s No 1 driver at the time had finally broken through. He had learnt how to win and, provided that he had the right car, he would go on to win more races and that could mean only one thing – Button would be fighting for the World Championship this season.

But the phrase “provided that he had the right car” has come to haunt the 27-year-old, whose smooth style and economy of effort so appeal to the purists, because this season he has not had the car he needs.

Erratic, unstable and awful to drive, the Honda RA107 has been so bad that the word from the frustrated Button camp, even several months ago, was that this season was a write-off. Instead of competing with the Ferraris and the McLarens, Button has been stuck in the nether regions, scoring only one point in ten races.

So the wait for Button’s day in the sun continues and it could be a long way off. He is contractually bound to Honda until at least the end of next season and must hope that Nick Fry, the embattled team principal, can pull the Formula One equivalent of a rabbit out of a hat next year.

There have been lots of new arrivals in the technical department, yet many feel that the goal, as the Japanese team seek to reach the podium places in one giant close-season leap, is beyond even Honda’s “Power of Dreams”. Button is clinging to the belief that Honda can do it and that he will not have to wait until 2009 for an opportunity to win the world title.

“I think we can build a car that’s competitive next year and that’s what we all have to hope for and that’s what we all have to work towards,” he said during the build-up to tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix. “We can’t work towards a transition year – we need to give everything and hopefully have a car that’s quick enough to win.”

The Briton’s most vivid memory of his moment of glory here is not crossing the finish-line or standing on the top of the podium, but going through the chicane and hearing his engineer tell him on the radio that he had a 40-second lead with ten laps to go. “I enjoyed those laps so much I wanted them to go on for ever,” he said.

It is not all doom and gloom for Button, however. At the Nürburgring in Germany two weeks ago, he believes he drove two of the best laps of his life in the building rain as he went from nineteenth to fourth, before coming in for a tyre change and then aquaplaning off on lap four. “Why do we need these conditions to be able to perform well?” he asked with a rare note of exasperation.

On the track during two sessions of practice yesterday, Button ran eighth in the morning and sixteenth in the afternoon. It was a typically up-and-down day, with some odd results as track conditions changed – there was some light rain in the afternoon – and teams ran on different tyres.

In the morning, Robert Kubica for BMW Sauber was fastest, ahead of the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, while in the afternoon Fernando Alonso in the McLaren was quickest, with Heikki Kovalainen second for Renault and Lewis Hamilton third for McLaren. Raikkonen and Massa were sixth and seventh respectively. Going for one last flying lap on a slippery surface after the rain, Hamilton spun his car harmlessly at the right-hand turn nine and dug it into the gravel, from where it was lifted to safety by crane.

Practice times

First session

1, R Kubica (Pol, BMW Sauber) 1min 22.390sec; 2, F Massa (Br, Ferrari) 1:22.519; 3, K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 1:22.540; 4, F Alonso (Sp, McLaren Mercedes) 1:22.585; 5, L Hamilton (GB, McLaren Mercedes) 1:22.654; 6, N Heidfeld (Ger, BMW Sauber) 1:22.891; 7, N Rosberg (Ger, Williams Toyota) 1:22.983; 8, J Button (GB, Honda) 1:23.294; 9, R Barrichello (Br, Honda) 1:23.601; 10, R Schumacher (Ger, Toyota) 1:23.802; 11, A Davidson (GB, Super Aguri-Honda) 1:24.102; 12, J Trulli (It, Toyota) 1:24.318; 13, A Wurz (Austria, Williams Toyota) 1:24.321; 14, D Coulthard (GB, RedBull-Renault) 1:24.474; 15, H Kovalainen (Fin, Renault) 1:24.733; 16, S Vettel (Ger, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:24.905; 17, G Fisichella (It, Renault) 1:24.920; 18, V Liuzzi (It, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:24.976; 19, T Sato (Japan, Super Aguri-Honda) 1:25.307; 20, M Webber (Aus, RedBull-Renault) 1:25.584; 21, A Sutil (Ger, Spyker-Ferrari) 1:26.332; 22, S Yamamoto (Japan, Spyker-Ferrari) 1:28.118.

Second session

1, Alonso 1:20.919; 2, Kovalainen 1:21.283; 3, Hamilton 1:21.338; 4, Rosberg 1:21.485; 5, Heidfeld 1:21.517; 6, Raikkonen 1:21.589; 7, Massa 1:21.620; 8, Fisichella 1:21.698; 9, Trulli 1:21.857; 10, Kubica 1:21.906; 11, Schumacher 1:21.912; 12, Wurz 1:21.987; 13, Webber 1:22.325; 14, Coulthard 1:22.483; 15, Davidson 1:22.510; 16, Button 1:22.550; 17, Sato 1:22.556; 18, Barrichello 1:22.727; 19, Liuzzi 1:23.136; 20, Vettel 1:23.148; 21, Sutil 1:23.673; 22, Yamamoto 1:26.307.

World Championship positions

Drivers: 1, Hamilton 70pts; 2, Alonso 68; 3, Massa 59; 4, Raikkonen 52; 5, Heidfeld 36; 6, Kubica 24; 7, Fisichella 17; 8, Kovalainen 15; 9, Wurz 13; 10, Webber 8; 11, Coulthard 8; 12, Trulli 7; 13, Rosberg 5; 14, Sato 4; 15, Schumacher 2; equal 16, Button and Vettel 1.

Constructors: 1, McLaren Mercedes 138; 2, Ferrari 111, 3 BMW Sauber 61; 4, Renault 32; 5, Williams Toyota 18.