MONTE CARLO (AFP) - Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team were still pinching themselves in delight Monday after winning Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix -- and promising a taste of the high life will not stop them keeping their foot on the pedal.

After five wins in six races, the 29-year-old Briton Button dominates the drivers' championship, but continued to refuse to consider himself as favourite.

"We just take each race as it comes and keep pushing," he said. "The title is not mine, or mine to lose, whatever people say.

"It is way too early to talk like that. Anything can happen and the other guys are all pushing hard. It is a fantastic moment for me, of course, especially after the last few years - and I am so enjoying winning again - but this is just a part of the season. Not the end."

And as he rubbed his eyes after a night of celebrations, his eponymous team boss Ross Brawn reminded anyone who was listening that the Brawn outfit intended to work harder, remain focussed and push on.

"This is very special for all of us, but we have to keep working," he said. "As everyone always says, you just can't stand still for a moment in Formula One and I expect all of our competitors to do the same.

"But to finish first and second in Monte Carlo is something emotional for this team. It is difficult to succeed here and this is the pinnacle, a massive achievement."

After six of this year's 17 races, Button with 51 points leads Brawn team-mate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello on 35 by 16 points, with German tyro Sebastian Vettel, 21, third for Red Bull on 23 ahead of his team-mate Australian Mark Webber, fourth on 19.5.

In the constructors championship Brawn lead with 86 ahead of Red Bull on 42.5 and Toyota on 26.5. Ferrari are fourth on 17.

The Brawn team's chief executive Nick Fry said he now hoped rivals like Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren would improve enough to push them hard and begin taking points off one another in the title battle.

Fry said: "What we hope happens is that several teams come back and they will steal points not only off us, but off others as well. So fingers crossed. I believe we are still realistic about it.

"We know Ferrari especially look like coming back very strongly. The next two tracks are very different again, very fast in some places and I think it is still going to be tough for us to maintain what we are doing at the moment.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali confirmed his team's progress since their worst start to a season in 29 years with Finn Kimi Raikkonen third and Brazilian Felipe Massa fourth behind Button and his Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

"Both cars collected points which was a very important step," said Domenicali. "We are going in the right direction."

Raikkonen collected Ferrari's first podium this year and said: "We need to be happy after such a difficult start to the season."

The Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul on 7 June will give Ferrari an opportunity to prove their improvements work as well on a fast track as the unique Monaco street circuit.

But while Ferrari improved, two of the other big manufacturer teams left Monte Carlo licking their wounds and wondering what was going wrong.

McLaren Mercedes showed improvements that were not reflected in points after Finn Heikki Kovalainen crashed out and defending drivers world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton toiled home 12th after starting at the back of the grid.