Born on January 19th 1980, Jenson Alexander Lyons Button currently drives for the Honda Formula One team. Jenson was born in Frome, Somerset in the UK to rally-cross driver John, who now divorced from Jenson’s mother, also has three daughters.
Early Career
Jenson started racing at the age of eight when his father bought him a kart. He pretty much dominated just about every race he entered and in 1991 he won the British Cadet Kart Championship, winning all 34 races. Prior to switching to cars, Jenson became the youngest driver to win the European Super A Championship and in 1998 Button progressed to Formula Ford, also winning at his first attempt. 1999 saw Jenson in Formula Three, and winning two races Button was placed third at the end of the season. In the same year, McLaren awarded Jenson their prestigious Young Driver Award, and shortly after he began testing Formula One cars.
2000
In 2000, Jenson tested for Williams and team owner Frank Williams was torn between Button and Bruno Junqueira. However, after the test sessions it was clear that Button was the quicker driver and was thus rewarded with a drive for the team that year. His first year in F1 was spectacular and Jenson often out raced his more experienced team mate Ralf Schumacher. Jenson was placed 8th at the end of the season, but was forced to make way for Montoya in 2001.
2001-2002
Although Jenson was still actually contracted to Williams, he drove for the newly Renault-purchased Benetton team. The squad were going through a transition period and the season was considered quite dismal. However, Button stuck it out and remained with the team for another year as they were transformed into Renault. 2002 went better for Button, matching his best finish of fourth on more than one occasion and finishing seventh overall in the championship.
2003
2003 saw Jenson in contract turmoil. On one hand Flavio Briatore of Renault recognised Jenson’s talent, but a poor 2002 car saw Jenson wanting to return to Williams. However, Team Willy were still tied up with Montoya and Flavio didn’t want to involve himself in the battle of contracts, so Fernando Alonso got the Renault drive and Jenson moved to BAR, partnering 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.
However, Jenson’s relationship with Jacques didn’t get off to a good start when they started a war or words in the media before the season even began. It seemed to centre around Villeneuve exclaiming confusion at the media’s adoration for Button before he had even achieved a podium finish in his career. It sounded a bit like a playground fight, but it was enough to cause the two to fall-out even before they battled on track.
Unfortunately, at the first race of the season the war of words spilled on to the race track when Villeneuve pitted incorrectly but deliberately pitted ahead of Button. This action spoiled a points finish for Jenson and the battle continued for the rest of the season. To Jenson’s credit though, the British driver consistently outpaced his championship winning team mate, further adding fuel to the fire. And despite suffering from a huge 180mph crash at Monaco and missing two races, Jenson still finished 11 points ahead of Jacques Villeneuve in the title race.
Things were finally looking up and Jacques and Jenson even made up – at least for the media anyway – and 2004 looked to be an even finer year for the young British driver.
2004
In only the second race of the season, Jenson claimed his first podium in Malaysia, and this pretty much continued to the end of the year. The BAR Honda team were looking good for a win all year, but unfortunately, Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari were dominant all season, and despite all the best efforts of the Brackley based team, they had to settle for a string a seconds and thirds. But the signs looked good for BAR and the team finished runner-up in the final championship standings, only beaten by Ferrari. Jenson finished a fine third with a magnificent tally of 85 points.
Before the season ended though, and while Jenson was enjoying the much improved car from BAR and raking in the points, he announced that he had signed a two year deal to return to Williams starting from 2005. This news came as a shock to just about everybody, not least of whom his team manager at BAR – Dave Richards. Richards vowed to fight to keep Jenson onboard, and claimed that the apparent loophole in Jenson’s contract did not exist and that Jenson had actually broken his terms with BAR. The following fight did a lot of damage to Jenson’s reputation, and lost him much of the respect he had so valiantly won by driving well all season. The case eventually went to the FIA Contract Recognition Board, who found that Jenson should honour his BAR contract for 2005.
Disappointed at not returning to the team that gave him his break, Jenson continued to drive for BAR, which was undergoing its own transition into Honda, as the Japanese car company had recently brought the squad.
2005
2005 wasn’t to be a good year though. Following on from the massive success in 2004, the team were feeling pretty hyped all winter, and they made claims of championship wins before they could really assess the capabilities of their car. And their car wasn’t that good. But the under-performing vehicle was the least of their worries, as the team were unceremoniously disqualified at San Marino for breaching the technical regulations. The team had apparently used a hidden reserve fuel tank to make the car weigh more, meaning they could run lighter up to the final pitstop. Honda had their results from San Marino taken away (their first of the year) and were disqualified from competing in the next two races.
Jenson took this opportunity to make his commentating debut for UK ITV, partnering James Allen and Martin Brundle in the ‘box at Monaco.
On his return, things started to look better for Jenson, scoring the second pole of his career in Montreal. Unfortunately the race didn’t go as well and he crashed out while in third. It wasn’t until halfway through the season that Jenson finally scored a championship point, but it was to be the first of many before the season ended. A fourth place at the French Grand Prix boosted his confidence and Button placed his car second on the grid for his home race at Silverstone. Although Button finished the British Grand Prix in fifth after a poor start to the race dropped him down the field.
Despite claiming another podium at the German Grand Prix, Button was be embroiled in another contract dispute, again with Williams. Williams said they had a contract with Button for 2006 and wanted the British driver to return. But Jenson had changed his mind and wanted to remain at BAR, which he knew would becoming Honda. Jenson was also concerned with Williams engine contract with BMW expiring. Button got his way this time though, and Jenson bought out his Williams contract for a reputed $30m.
2006
Honda partnered Jenson with ex-Ferrari ace Rubens Barrichello for the 2006 season, and again they hyped up their season before the car had actually raced in anger. Although this time they did base their hype on a strong winter testing package that did seem to suggest the car would be a winner. Unfortunately, 2006 was a very up and down campaign, and while the team experienced many highs, they also messed up many races and lost a fair few.
One highlight would have to be the teams - and Jenson’s - maiden win in Hungary. A wet race saw Jenson make all the right decisions and a delighted Button reveled in the team’s success. It was Jenson’s 113th race and considered well-deserved by the Formula One fraternity. Jenson also outpaced his experienced team mate for much of the year, particularly in the first half of the season. Rubens had trouble adjusting to the new team and this gave Jenson the initial edge. However, Barrichello did improve and started to challenge Jenson towards the end of the season. Ultimately, the team could not reproduce their 2004 triumph, but 56 points saw Jenson finish the season in 6th place.
2007
Honda changed marketing approach for 2007, removing the sponsors from the car and instead getting people to make a pledge to help global climate change. However, a change of livery was the least of the team’s worries as the RA107 proved to be hopeless. In fact the car was so terrible Rubens Barrichello didn’t even score one point during the year. Button only managed six and it was his second worse season to date. For much of the year the team followed their sister squad Super Aguri, who amazingly were doing better with Honda’s 2006 car. Jenson’s highest placed finish in 2007 was fifth at the Chinese Grand Prix, courtesy of the changeable weather conditions.
Beyond Formula One
Outside of Formula One, Jenson enjoys mountain biking and body boarding, and is a keen fan of Bristol City football club. He resides in Monaco, and enjoys the presence of his father at most races in the season.
