Jenson Button

- Published on Dec 22nd, 2010 by The Badger

Life Before F1
Won the British Formula Ford title in 1998 and ended the year as the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the year. That landed him a test in a McLaren F1 car - who knew then he'd be back at the wheel of one of the team's racers 12 years down the line. He then finished third in the 1999 British F3 championship before being snapped-up by F1 boss Frank Williams. The rest is history.

F1 Career
Button's debut season saw him quickly branded a star of the future, with six points paying finishes leaving him a solid eighth in the drivers' standings. However with Juan Pablo Montoya on his way in for 2001 there was no space for Button at the Williams team, and he was farmed out to Benetton for his sophomore campaign.

This was far less impressive, as Jenson was made to look rather ordinary by team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in what was an uncompetitive car, scoring just two points on his way to 17th in the standings. He remained with the team for 2002 as it morphed in to Renault and was vastly improved, scoring regular points to finish seveth in the championship. Replaced at Renault by test driver Fernando Alonso, he switched to BAR for 2003 and easily saw off new team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, who left the team at the campaign's conclusion. That made Button team leader for 2004, a year it would prove his best to date.

Button took ten podium finishes across the season, and though there were no wins in a season utterly dominated by Ferrari Jenson's career did appear to be on the up. He took third in the standings, by far his best championship placing to date, and was positive that the team could take the next step in 2005.

But whilst the season was decent it didn't see BAR and Button achieve that elusive first win. The lowest ebb of 2005 saw team were disqualified from the San Marino Grand Prix and subsequently banned from the next two races for running an illegal fuel compartment, and though JB ended the year with ten straight points finishes (two of them podiums) he slipped to ninth in the standings.

2006 finally brought Button's breakthrough, with victory in a crazy Hungarian GP giving him win number one at the 113th time of asking. Overall it was a decent season, with Button taking additional podiums in Malaysia and Brazil and scoring points in all of the final seven races of the season to finish sixth in the championship.

But if Button believed that the floodgates would open following his maiden win he was in for a rude awakening. He spent a nightmare two years in the F1 wilderness in '07 and '08 as Honda rolled out a pair of ugly, uncompetitive cars. Jenson no-doubt learned a whole lot over these two seasons, but at times he looked ready to walk away from F1. At the end of 2008 Honda did just that, but little did we know at the time that the Japanese manufacturer were walking away from a mega-quick car.

With the team's future secured in a last minute deal the 2009 campaign brought the fairytale that was the Brawn-Button story. Six wins from the opening seven races gave Button a healthy championship lead that he was able to manage for the remainder of the season. Despite the increasing pace of Sebastian Vettel and a few wobbles from Jenson the title was never really in doubt. It was a fitting reward for the struggles of '07 and '08. Button subsequently left the team, which was in the process of becoming Mercedes, to join fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.

Fifth in 2010 doesn't really do justice to what was a very solid first year in a McLaren team centred around Hamilton since late 2007. Jenson's two wins - Australia and China - were tactical masterstrokes from the Englishman, and whilst he certainly couldn't be called the fastest driver in F1 he is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent. With a year's experience at the team in his pocket and with the unburdened freedom a maiden world championship brings he remains a genuine threat for wins, and could yet claim another world title in 2011.