Exclusive Q&A: Jenson Button on his F1 career so far, team-mates, and what's next...

Remember we asked you last week to email in your questions for Jenson Button? Well, the McLaren answered a selection of them in Japan...

Huge fan of yours, have been since I started watching Formula 1 in 2002. My question is: If you could relive one race from your career, which one would it be and why? Aaron Irwin
Jenson Button: “I’ve always been asked what my favourite race was and probably my favourite race was here in Suzuka, winning the grand prix in 2011, for many different reasons. But if I was to re-live the race, it would be Canada 2011. Just because everything happened in that race and it was one of those races that just proves you should never, never give up because anything is possible. I mean, I was last twice and I thought, ‘This is going to be a tough race’. I never thought I’d win it but I was dedicated to getting the maximum out of the car every lap and came away with a victory. So a perfect race in a way, with so many things going wrong, but I ended up winning the grand prix. So very special.”

Apart from Daniel Ricciardo, who do you think will be the next World Champion in the current field of drivers? Tim Jobs
JB: “I think you’d say Daniel Ricciardo. I’d choose him.”

So not Valtteri Bottas then, for example?
“It’s a shot in the dark, isn’t it? I mean there’s a few drivers: you’d say that Kevin’s quick , you’d say that Bottas is, Kvyat’s quick. But it’s a real shot in the dark. I’d say Ricciardo’s easier.”

I've a question: If Big Ron came to you and said, ‘Button, I’m going to give you a car and the choice was a McLaren P1 sportscar or an F1 sportscar’, which would you have? Sent from Ross Taylor (aged 15)
JB: “An F1 road car because when you look at McLaren that’s the car you think of. I mean, the P1 is a beautiful work of art and technically so advanced. But the McLaren F1 was the car that, when I was growing up, I had a picture of it and it was the car to have: central driving position; it’s still the most powerful normally aspirated engine in a road car – supposedly – so that would be the car. And it’s worth a hell of a lot of money – the re-sale value’s much better!”

How much longer do you see yourself competing in Formula 1? I hope you won’t retire any time soon, whether or not you stay with McLaren for 2015, F1 needs a gent like you! Also, what does your general fitness training programme look like? Christian Sorgendal Oslo, Norway
JB: “I don’t know. Why put a number on it?

“General fitness training programme? Lots of cycling, lots of running, lots of swimming. Lots of core work at the moment and some reaction work as well. So strength work, you don’t need it in F1 anymore. But it’s all stuff that I love. I love doing triathlons, which is all physical and mental training for F1 as well. For example, on Tuesday I cycled around Mount Fuji, which is 106km and 2000m of climbing. That’s four hours, so that’s the sort of training I do. It’s all mixed up; it’s all different. Long stuff, the base, I have other stuff which is peak training – peak heart-rate training – there’s all sorts. But I enjoy my training, and I’