Jenson Button

Lore & Background

Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship. He first drove in F1 with Williams for the 2000 season. The following year, he switched to Benetton, which, at the start of the 2002 season, became the Renault team, and then moved to BAR for the 2003 season. He finished third in the 2004 World Drivers' Championship before falling to ninth in the 2005 championship. BAR was subsequently renamed and became the Honda team for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix after 113 races. Following the withdrawal of Honda from the sport in December 2008, Button was left without a team for the 2009 season. In February 2009, Ross Brawn led a management buyout of Honda, creating Brawn GP and recruiting Button as a driver. Button went on to win a record-equalling six of the first seven races of the 2009 season, securing the Drivers' Championship; he did not lead the championship after the first race (Australia) but took the lead after the second race (Malaysia) and led thereafter. His success also helped Brawn GP to secure that year's Constructors' Championship. At the start of the 2010 season, Button moved to McLaren, partnering fellow British racer Lewis Hamilton. After finishing fifth for the team in 2010, Button ended the 2011 season as runner-up, before falling to fifth in the 2012 championship. Four more seasons with McLaren resulted in no further victories and he retired from Formula One at the end of 2016, making a one-off return to deputise for Fernando Alonso. From the 306 races that Button started, he won fifteen, qualified on pole position eight times, took fifty podium finishes and scored 1,235 championship points. After his F1 career, Button became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT Series alongside Naoki Yamamoto. He also competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing with support from Stewart–Haas Racing and sponsorship from Mobil 1.

In Their Own Story

The rain lashed down on the Silverstone circuit, turning the tarmac into a slick mirror under the grey English sky. Inside the Williams garage, engineers huddled over telemetry screens while Button climbed into the FW18. He wasn't racing for points today; he was hunting data. The engine roared to life, echoing off the concrete walls as he pushed the car through the wet corners, his notes feeding directly back to the pit wall.

Reader's Guide

Button was born on 19 January 1980 in Frome, Somerset and brought up in nearby Vobster, Mells. He is the fourth child of Simone Lyons and former rallycross driver John Button. Button enjoyed racing from an early age, racing a BMX bike with friends after school, and began watching Formula One races with his father around the age of five. He idolised four-time world champion Alain Prost. After his parents divorced when he was seven, he and his three elder sisters were brought up by their mother in Frome. Button was educated at Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School and Frome Community College. His karting career limited his studying and he left school with one GCSE. Button failed his first driving test for driving between two cars on a narrow road. He began karting at the Clay Pigeon Raceway in May 1988 aged eight. In 1989, aged nine, Button won the British Super Prix. He won all 34 races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship and the title. Further successes followed, including three British Open Kart Championship wins. He was fourth in the 1994 RAC British Junior Championship. He was the youngest runner-up of the Formula A World Championship at age 15. In 1997, Button won the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup for finishing second in the 1997 Japanese World Cup, and became the youngest driver and first Briton to claim the European Super A Championship. Aged eighteen, Button moved into single seater car racing. He took the British Formula Ford Championship in 1998 with nine victories and won the season-ending Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. Button also finished runner-up in the European Formula Ford Championship with one victory from four races. At the end of 1998, Button won the annual Autosport BRDC Award. He then drove in the British Formula 3 International Series.

Did You Know?

• Button won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2009 with Brawn GP.
• He first drove in F1 with Williams for the 2000 season.
• Button won his first Grand Prix in 2006 after 113 races.
• He made a one-off return to F1 to deputise for Fernando Alonso.
• After F1, Button became champion of the 2018 Super GT Series alongside Naoki Yamamoto.