Jenson Button believes his nine years in Formula One have all prepared him for his best chance to win the world title.

Button and Brawn GP's rise to the top of the F1 standings has been nothing short of a fairytale as the team made the leap from apparent no-hopers to race-winners.

After a trying time last year and cash-flow problems Honda opted to pull out of F1, putting the team up for sale and leaving Button with little hope of making the grid for the 2009 season-opening Australian GP.

But just three weeks before the race, the team was sold to Ross Brawn and Button was guaranteed a race-seat - although few expected the team to do anything more than make up the numbers.

Brawn, though, quickly proved their doubters wrong, as Button and team-mate Rubens Barrichello became the pace-setters in the team's first test.

"I had a big smile on my face when I heard about the team being saved," Button told The Guardian. "I found out the same time as the team did. There was no preferential treatment.

"Then to find that the car was quick: that was the final piece of the jigsaw."

But even with a few testing P1s under their belts, many still thought the BGP001 was being put through glory laps with very little few in the car.

That, though, was disproved when Button claimed pole position and the race victory at both the Australian and Malaysian GPs, leaving himself and Brawn sitting at the top of the tables.

Now, instead of being doubted, the 29-year-old is being put forward as a potential winner of this year's championship, a task that Button's feels he is definitely up to.

"It feels good that people think I am a contender for the Championship," he said. "It has always been there, but I never had anywhere near the equipment that I deserved.

"I have been ready to deliver for many years. You do get better with age. I am 29 years old, but I am still young. I feel as excited as I did when I drove that Williams for the first time. The difference is, I now have the experience of nine years in F1.

"I'm ready."