Jenson Button

Button at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

Jenson Alexander Lyons Button is an English Formula One driver currently in the employ of the Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team.

Early life

Button was born on January 19, 1980, in Frome, Somerset, England. Jenson is the son of former British rallycross ace John Button (well-known for his so-called Colorado beetle Volkswagen), whose best overall result was to become the runner-up in the RAC British Rallycross Championship of 1976. Button junior began karting at age eight, generally dominating every race in which he took part. In 1991, he won the British Cadet Kart Championship, taking first place in all 34 races. In 1997, he became the youngest driver ever to win the European Super A Championship. He switched from karts to cars in 1998, winning the British Formula Ford Championship that same year for Haywood Racing. Button entered Formula Three in 1999, winning two races and placing third in the British Championship.

Formula One

Early years at Williams and Benetton

McLaren awarded Button their Young Driver Award in 1999. He began testing in F1 in 2000, switching between teams, often outpacing Prost's regular driver Jean Alesi in testing at Barcelona. This auspicious debut caught the attention of Sir Frank Williams of WilliamsF1, who wanted Button as his test driver. However, Button quickly began outpacing Williams' second driver, Bruno Junqueira, so Button was contracted as the team's second race driver. He finished eighth in the 2000 Drivers' Championship, proving that he was genuinely fast by outscoring his teammate (the more experienced Ralf Schumacher) on many occasions. His best races of the season were a fourth place finish at the German Grand Prix and a fifth place showing in Belgium.

In 2001, although still under contract with Williams, Button drove for Benetton which had just been purchased by Renault. He had quite a dismal season; the car, which was constantly under development that year, was never fast, nor was Jenson. He did, however, place fifth at the German Grand Prix, but finished a disappointing seventeenth in the drivers championship that year.

In 2002 Renault renamed Benetton as Renault F1. Though his teammate Jarno Trulli routinely outpaced him in qualifying, Button had the superior race pace. He narrowly missed third place (and his first podium) at the Malaysian Grand Prix, being passed by Michael Schumacher in the last lap due to a suspension failure in his Renault, instead finishing the race fourth. The Brazilian Grand Prix gave him another fourth place; he would finish seventh in that year's drivers championship.

For the 2003 season team principal Flavio Briatore replaced Button with Fernando Alonso, previously test driver for the team. To cries of derison Briatore confidently stated "Time will tell if I am wrong." In 2005 Alonso won the Drivers' Championship with Renault, while Button had yet to win a race and was involved in his second contract dispute in two years. The Times quotes Briatore as saying “Jenson is a fine driver but there were too many contracts, too many things in the background.”

Breakthrough at BAR

Button at Indianapolis in 2004

In 2003, Button joined the BAR team alongside former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. Their relationship was not good — early bad blood arose between them when Villeneuve spoilt a points-finish for Button in the first race of the year (at the Australian Grand Prix) by coming into the pits when it was Button's turn to pit. This resulted in an early season "war of words" in the press between the two BAR teammates. However, as the season progressed, the rift healed, and Button's times were consistently better than Villeneuve's, his best result being a fourth place in Austria. Unfortunately, Button crashed heavily during Friday practice at Monaco, causing him to miss both the race and the following testing session at Monza. By the end of the season, though, things were looking up, and at the United States Grand Prix Button led a lap for the first time. He finished ninth in the Drivers' Championship that year with 17 points, with teammate Villeneuve scoring just 6.

In 2004, Button and BAR-Honda made a surprise jump almost to the top of the heap (beneath only the ubiquitous Michael Schumacher and Ferrari). He finished the first race (Australian Grand Prix) in sixth place after a brilliant qualifying session, and in Malaysia Button landed his first ever podium finish with a third place, which he reprised at the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix. His (and BAR's) first pole position came in April at the San Marino Grand Prix, in which he finished second. By clinching third place in the 2004 season with a total of 85 points, Button confirmed his position as a significant challenger to the F1 crown.

A poor start to the 2005 Formula One season, which included a disqualification at the San Marino Grand Prix, and hence a three-race ban (if you include the San Marino GP), appeared to have picked up after he took his second pole of his career at Montreal. However he started that race poorly, and crashed on lap 46 while in third place. Despite having to wait until the halfway point of the season to score his first World Championship point of the year, things improved considerably towards the end of the year. After a fourth place finish at Magny-Cours Button placed himself second on the grid for his home grand prix at Silverstone but another slow start saw him lose position and poor race pace dropped him through the field to finish fifth.

Button behind the wheel for British American Racing at the 2004 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis

Button has always gone well at the Hockenheim circuit, and 2005 was to be no exception. Putting his BAR-Honda on P2 in qualifying for the 2005 German Grand Prix, he then went on to finish third, his first podium finish of the season.

Contract disputes

On August 5, 2004 Button announced that he had signed a two-year contract to return to Williams from the start of the 2005 season; an apparent loophole in his BAR contract permitted him to leave if Honda's commitment to the team was in any doubt. BAR boss David Richards promptly vowed to fight to keep his driver, though Sir Frank Williams maintained that the switch was entirely legal. The FIA Contract Recognition Board (CRB) held a hearing to determine Jenson's 2005 status on October 16 in Milan, Italy, concluding that he was contracted to BAR-Honda for the 2005 season.

In 2005 Button again found himself in contractual controversy. Despite having signed a contract to drive for the Williams team for 2006 he judged the likely prospects for that team to have declined as their engine suppliers BMW had purchased the Sauber team and were to stop supplying engines to Williams. Frank Williams was adamant that the contract must be honoured despite Button claiming that circumstances had changed and he had a right to remain at BAR.

On 21 September 2005, BAR confirmed that Button would once again drive for them in 2006 (having bought out his contract from Williams for a reported $30m) where he will partner ex-Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello.

Personal

Button was engaged to Fame Academy's Louise Griffiths for two years. Their relationship ended in April 2005.

Like most Formula One drivers, Jenson resides in the principality of Monaco, and also has a property in the UK, and in Bahrain in the Gulf.

Complete Formula One results

(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Team
2000	Will	AUS	BRA	SAN	GBR	SPA	EUR	MON	CAN	FRA	AUT	DEU	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN	MAL			Will
2001	Bene	AUS	MAL	BRA	SAN	SPA	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	DEU	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			Bene
2002	Rena	AUS	MAL	BRA	SAN	SPA	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	FRA	DEU	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			Rena
2003	BAR	AUS	MAL	BRA	SAN	SPA	AUT	MON	CAN	EUR	FRA	GBR	DEU	HUN	ITA	USA	JPN				BAR
2004	BAR	AUS	MAL	BAH	SAN	SPA	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	DEU	HUN	BEL	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA		BAR
2005	BAR	AUS	MAL	BAH	SAN	SPA	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	DEU	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	BRA	JPN	CHN	BAR

Jenson Button

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