Name |
Jenson Button |
Height |
|
Naionality |
English |
Date of Birth |
19-January-1980 |
Place of Birth |
Frome, Somerset, England, UK |
Famous for |
Formula One Racing Driver |
Jenson Button is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 Formula One World Champion, driving for Brawn GP. 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 Three Championship. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 for the 2000 season. The following year he switched to Benetton, which in 2002 became Renault, and then for the 2003 season he moved to BAR. They were subsequently renamed Honda for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, after 113 races.
At the end of 1999, Button had his McLaren test prize at Silverstone, and also tested for the Prost team. A vacant race seat became available at the Williams team, following the departure of Alex Zanardi, and team boss Frank Williams arranged a 'shoot-out' test between Button and Formula 3000 racer Bruno Junqueira, with Button securing the drive. This made him Britain's youngest ever Formula One driver. Button was heavily hyped before his first race: former driver Gerhard Berger described him as a "phenomenon"; the head of his karting team, Paul Lemmens, compared him to Ayrton Senna; and Williams' technical director Patrick Head said he was "remarkably mature and definitely a star of the future". However some had misgivings about his lack of experience and ability to cope with the pressures of Formula One. At the Singapore Grand Prix, Button qualified in fourth place and finished the race in second place after Vettel inherited the win when Hamilton had a gearbox failure during the race. Button qualified in third place in Japan behind a Red Bull front row, but was hit with a five place penalty for a gearbox change and dropped to eighth. Button made the best of various first corner incidents and weaved his car into third place. He eventually finished fourth after Felipe Massa leap-frogged him in the pit stops and he was unable to overtake Kamui Kobayashi before the end of the race. Button qualified down in eleventh place for the Korean Grand Prix, but was forced to retire from the race after the first lap when Kobayashi collided with him and also Nico Rosberg. During the Indian Grand Prix, Button finished fifth behind team-mate Hamilton, after starting the race fourth and being overtaking by Fernando Alonso in the opening laps. He qualified sixth for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing fourth after being overtaken in the final laps by Sebastian Vettel.
He picked up his third win of the season at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix in changeable conditions after a battle for the lead with Nico Hulkenberg and teammate Hamilton. Button dropped back from the two half way through the race but they then collided, with Hamilton retiring and Hulkenberg being forced to pit, Button was able to pick up his 15th career victory. He ended up finishing 5th in the championship, just a few points behind his teammate.