Jenson Button will not be celebrating his world championship this evening in Brazil.
It has emerged that the Brawn driver, who clinched his childhood dream at Interlagos on Sunday, must return to Europe almost immediately in order to attend a PR function for the team sponsor Virgin early this week.
His father John, himself a former rallycross champion, will be aboard the late Sunday flight with his 29-year-old son, who first got at the wheel of a go-kart at the age of 8.
"I'm a bit drained," John Button, 63 and a constant figure in the paddock since his son's debut in 2000, told British television BBC.
"The last seven or eight laps, we were all crying like little girls. I'm all washed out at the moment, I've got to accept where he is now, up there with all those great names. I haven't got my head round it."
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Formula 1