Will the real Jenson Button please step forward?
If you followed his Formula 1 career, you might think him everything from an exhibitionist to a womaniser to a decent driver who ended up in the right car at the right time... or you might just as readily recall him for scooping the 2009 world championship, 15 GP wins, some of them sensational, and out-scoring none other than Lewis Hamilton over their three years as team-mates at McLaren.
If we’re ever going to find out the truth, the time is now. Button’s been out of F1 for 18 months, bar a one-off return in Monaco when Fernando Alonso did the Indy 500 last season, and is notably at ease with the world, be it in his private life – where he’s settled with fiancée Brittny Ward, with whom he has set up home in Los Angeles – or his professional one, which includes racing Super GT cars in Japan, prototypes in the World Endurance Championship and various commentary and promotional jobs around F1.
Jenson Button - a career in pics
We meet at the Hungaroring, near Budapest, where Button is working for Honda on a promotional film. It’s him, me, a small film crew and a concrete pit garage. No glamour, certainly, and few distractions.
He has spent the previous three days in Thailand, enduring a disappointing Super GT race because of weight ballast imposed on him and his team-mates for leading the championship. He arrived in Hungary at 2am, and from his full day at work is flying to the UK for three days, before heading to LA for four days and then coming back to the UK for the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Tired? “Shattered,” he says, but with a smile lighting up his face. “It’s probably a bit too much, but I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Button’s early years are well documented, not least in his excellent autobiography, published last year. Most famously, he was plucked from Formula 3 aged 19 and made the Williams F1 team’s driver, immediately becoming the darling of the British press – and carrying the burden of expectation despite his inexperience – in the wake of Damon Hill’s retirement. That first year, 2000, was punctuated by ups and downs, but the highlights were more than enough to then earn him a two-year contract at Benetton when Williams found itself with three contracted drivers for two seats. It was at that point that his golden boy reputation started to diminish.
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Button was the real deal. Not
Button was the real deal. Not the best qualifier, but could out-race anyone in F1. Unfortunately he rarely had a car that allowed him to show his true talent (mostly the fault of Honda who he wasted 9 years of his F1 career on). It's a shame he wasn't in a Mercedes from 2014-2016, I think Lewis would have a few less championships.
Jenson Button
What a top bloke, absolute legend.
Had his detractors early in his F1 career but rightly proved them wrong and showed what a true and deserving World Champion he is.
KL1002 wrote:
Totally agree, many think he was lucky to win with Brawn, I think he earnt it, he proved himself time and again, it wasnt often his team mates beat him in the points though his latter McLaren Honda years weren't great showcases of his talent. Will always remember his win in Canada, in the wet, from the back, where he harried Vettel into a mistake on the last lap.
si73 wrote:
That was a thing of beauty. Vettel cracking on the last lap was the cherry on the top!
DavidW wrote:
That still pops up in my memories to this day! Absolutely fantastic and can remember being so excited, happy and ecstatic when Vettel binned it under Button pressure after such a long race! Always liked JB - great guy!
Vettel...
Fragility under pressure, weak spot of his for sure
Read the Book?
Book is pretty much the same, you can’t be a shrinking Violet in F1...