Now that he has won the Formula One world title, Jenson Button can look forward to a new chapter in a career that only 12 months ago looked to be teetering on the edge of collapse.

That was when Honda abruptly put its Formula One team up for sale, leaving everyone involved with the outfit based in Brackley, Northamptonshire, wondering whether they had a future in the sport.

Who could have guessed that, within a year, Button would be celebrating a maiden World Championship and that the new Brawn GP team would be clinching the constructors’ title, both with a race to spare?

In many ways the future looks bright indeed for Button. His financial rewards will only increase with an improved package on the cut-price deal he agreed after the buyout from Honda, while the Briton believes that this could be just the beginning for him and that he and the team could go on to even greater achievements.

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“I want to be here next year and I want to be with a team with which I’ve won the World Championship,” he said. “These guys [Brawn GP] are not one-hit wonders. We have some sensationally talented people in our team. We are at the right amount of people for next year and we are in a great position.”

Ross Brawn. the team principal, was singing the same tune. “It will be tough to top this,” he said. “It [winning the world title] doesn’t take ambition away from me. Now it’s up to us to prove it wasn’t a fluke.”

Such optimism in their moment of triumph is understandable and there is no doubt that any team run by Brawn are going to be a formidable force. But there are some sizeable obstacles ahead.

While most of their rivals in the Formula One paddock are pleased to have seen the former Honda squad rise so spectacularly, they also point out that Button has been the beneficiary of a set of circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated.

As one rival put it: “They have played a joker this year and reaped the rewards.”

The car that Button drove to one win after another in the first half of the season is widely considered to have been the most expensive and thoroughly developed racing machine in the history of Formula One.

The key to its gestation was Brawn’s decision to abandon upgrades on Honda’s 2008 car, which was a dud, as early as April that year and devote all resources to the 2009 machine.

This was developed by a Honda team spending, according to some estimates, up to £500 million in what turned out to be their last year in the sport. The new car had the benefit of 24/7 aerodynamic research in four wind tunnels, something that is no longer allowed under Formula One’s new cost-saving rules, and it came out of the box fully developed, exploiting a loophole in the new technical rules. No surprise, then, that it was half a second quicker than any of its rivals.

Next year’s Brawn car will have the benefit of much of what the team achieved technically this season. It will continue to be powered by Mercedes engines, a company that intends to take 75 per cent of the equity in the team, turning Brawn GP into one of the powerhouses of the paddock.

Alongside his new team-mate — expected to be Nico Rosberg, the German who drives for Williams — Button should be able to mount a potent follow-up to a sensational debut year for Brawn. But McLaren Mercedes will be plotting a return to glory for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari will be hoping to follow a disappointing season with a much better effort behind Fernando Alonso, their new signing. Red Bull also believe that they will have a car to fight for the title next year, so it could be crowded at the top of the grid.

The other question concerns Button himself. No one should begrudge him his glory — there are few more hard-working drivers and on Sunday the Englishman showed that he can fight on the track like the best. He won the title fairly and squarely and survived a tormenting second half of the season to write his name in history. It is no criticism, however, to say that he has struck many as someone for whom one title may well be enough. Does Button have the desire to put himself through it all again for another chance?

Brawn appears to believe that Button has more in him, but there is less certainty among the team principal’s peers. Two former champions who almost everyone agrees will never rest easy are Hamilton and Alonso, who may well dominate the battleground next season.

Button’s challenge will be to make sure that the race for the 2010 title is not a private affair between the former McLaren Mercedes team-mates and that the defending champion has his say, too.

Pole position

BBC Sports Personality of the Year betting 4-7 Jenson Button 11-4 Jessica Ennis 16-1 Andrew Strauss 25-1 David Haye 33-1 Andrew Flintoff, Beth Tweddle 50-1 Tom Daley 66-1 Mark Cavendish, Amir Khan, Andy Murray, Phillips Idowu, Stuart Broad Odds by Ladbrokes