McLaren driver Jenson Button has hit out at the Pirelli tyres his team uses, and insists that the wheels ensure he is "nowhere" when it rains.

Button, who is way off the title pace in seventh in the drivers' standings, says that his fear of having no grip means he cannot push hard in wet races.

"I've driven Formula 1 cars for 12 or 13 years and I know what it is like to drive in the wet," Eurosport quotes Button as saying.

"I have never felt it like this, but I have had temperature issues for most of the year. In the wet we are nowhere.

"The tyre isn't working, it's just skating and you spend the whole time so fearful that it is just going to send you off into the boonies."

McLaren are 81 points off the pace in the constructors' table.