JENSON Button could be set to end his Formula One career at the end of the season with an announcement on his future expected as early as this week's Japanese Grand Prix.

The 2009 world champion, from Frome, is in the midst of his worst-ever season in the sport with McLaren's Honda partnership having long since descended into a farce.

Button, who lived for a time in Southwick near Trowbridge, has finished in the points in just two of the 13 races this season and retired from Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix with a gearbox problem.

"Only my head knows, but my mouth and tongue doesn't," said Button, a 15-time winner, when asked if the time was right to end his stay in Formula One.

"The race was mentally very tough. You get out of the car and you are pretty p***** off but you learn in this business to get over things pretty quickly, otherwise they pull you down.

"The joy of being in the car is only there if you're fighting at the front, because you feel like you're achieving something. If you're fighting near the back, you're driving an F1 car, but you can easily get joy driving something else.

"The joy you get is competing. It's about fighting at the front. It's about the possibility of standing on top of the podium. That's the joy of Formula One."

Button and his beleaguered McLaren team - who endured their fourth double retirement of the season in Singapore after Fernando Alonso also suffered a gearbox failure - will now head to Honda's home race in Japan where a decision on their line-up for 2016 could be revealed.

McLaren have an option on Button for next season, but that clause expires at the end of September. It is reported that talks with the team's boss Ron Dennis over extending his grand prix career into a 17th campaign have stalled.

Reserve driver Kevin Magnussen, who moved sideways after one season following the arrival of Alonso, and Stoffel Vandoorne, the runaway GP2 championship leader, are both contenders for Button's seat. They would both be vastly cheaper options than the Briton, too.

Button, whose wife Jessica is Japanese, regards Sunday's race in Suzuka as a home event.

"It's always nice to make an announcement at your home grand prix but I don't know what's happening yet," said Button, who began his grand prix career as a 20-year-old with Williams at the turn of the century.

"There's a lot of meetings in Japan, Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier will be there. I'm sure there will be a lot of meetings at the headquarters.

"The whole team is together in this. It's not an easy situation for anyone and the best way is to work together, to make sure personnel and money is being put into the right area.

"I know the Japanese are working flat out. They have no rest. But as McLaren-Honda, we need to make sure everything is going in the right direction. It's about being calm and not getting too stressed about a situation because everyone is working hard."

Button has been entered for 281 races in his career - a record for a British driver and a total which makes him far and away the most experienced driver involved in Formula One this season. He made his F1 debut in 2000.