Jenson Button said he has nothing to prove following his fine drive for McLaren in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

“I don’t go driving to try to prove anything any more,” said the British driver, who finished fourth at Interlagos. “I’m here to do my job and my job is to do the best job I can for myself and for the team and that’s exactly what I did. I enjoyed it as well. It was a lot of fun.”

Button has consistently beaten his team-mate Kevin Magnussen this season but is still thought to be the driver who will make for Fernando Alonso next year. At 34, Button is 12 years older than Magnussen and, on an estimated £12m, earns about 20 times more money.

It has been suggested Alonso does not relish going head to head with a driver as good as the 2009 world champion. Button said: “It’s a tricky one. Who knows what’s going on inside Fernando’s head? Does he want a competitive team-mate who can help him move the team forward or that’s easy to beat? I really don’t know. And you’ll never know unless you are his team-mate.

“He’s an intelligent guy I think but I still don’t know what he wants from a team-mate. I don’t think if he’s here next year that he gets the call of who’s his team-mate. I don’t think he’ll have any opinion on drivers. I think that’s down to other individuals within this team.”

Brazil was the fifth time Button had finished in the top four this season; Magnussen has managed it just once, and that was in the first race in Australia in March.

Button said: “I loved the battle out there and sitting on the Williams’ tail and trying to hold on to them for as long as possible. It was a lot of fun. And then the battle with Kimi Raikkonen, going past him was mega – I really enjoyed that.

“We’re not the best of friends but we battle hard but clean. You’ve got real trust in another world champion. They’ve achieved a world championship, they know what it’s like and they know what it takes. They know you’ve got to get to the end of the race.

“I’m still pretty good. When I did some TV and they said do you want to stay if you can win races next year and I said ‘Yeah, I think I’ve done the schooling in F1 and I’m ready to fight it with the big boys now. I’ve come of age at 34, I’m ready for it.”

“I feel that I bring a lot to a team, not just in terms of results but in terms of marketing and working with sponsors, and how I can help develop a car. You want to feel like you are wanted within a team and part of the family.

“It’s like if your parents were to turn round and say, ‘you know what, we’re not sure if we want you at Christmas this year. But your brother can come, he’s great.’ You know what I mean. You want to feel like you are part of the family and that they want you to be part of the family and that’s more important than cash.”