Jenson Button drives for McLaren in 2010

Teams
Williams – 2000
Benetton – 2001
Renault – 2002
BAR – 2003-2005
Honda – 2006-2008
Brawn – 2009
McLaren – 2010-

Backed by father (and former rallycross racer) John Button, Jenson charted a rapid rise through the ranks of karting, beginning with a flawless performance in the 1991 British Cadet Karting Championship in which he won all 34 races.

Further karting successes followed: he was British Open Karting Champion on three occasions and later became the youngest ever winner of the European Super A category. He also won the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup in 1997.

The following year he made the step from karts to cars at the age of 18. He won the British Formula Ford championship with nine wins for Haywood racing and also triumphed in the prestigious Formula Ford Festival ahead of Dan Wheldon and Nicolas Kiesa. He also raced Formula Fords in Europe and finished second in the European championship.

After such a successful transition to racing cars he won the 1998 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

At 19 he entered the British Formula Three championship with Promatecme and won three, finishing the year as the top rookie, third overall behind Marc Hynes and Luciano Burti. He finished fifth in the F3 Masters at Zandvoort, but fared better at the Macau Formula Three Grand Prix. He chased reigning Japanese Formula Three champion to the flag, finishing just 0.035s behind the winner.

As the racing season drew to a close Button had his first taste of F1 machinery in a McLaren as reward for his Autosport award win the previous season. He also tested for the Prost Grand Prix team.

Williams

Then a rare opportunity presented itself at one of Britain’s most famous racing teams – Williams, where incumbent racer Alessandro Zanardi had cut short his two-year contract after an unsuccessful season. Frank Williams elected to promote either Button or Formula 3000 racer Bruno Junquiera to the race team. After comparing both in a ’shoot-out’ test, Williams chose Button.

The media quickly picked up upon Button’s popularity and he largely impressed in his debut season. Despite qualifying only 21st for his first race after a series of car problems and bad luck he drove a composed first race. Then he picked up a point in his second outing, becoming the youngest ever points-scorer.

Despite further impressive performances at Hockenheim and Spa-Francorchamps he could do nothing to hang on to his Williams seat, which was destined for Juan Pablo Montoya.

Benetton

Button moved to Benetton for 2001, but with the team in transition to Renault he struggled against long-term driver Giancarlo Fisichella. All he had to show for the season was a single points finish at the Hockenheimring.

But with Renault taking over the team Button could look forward to a more competitive 2002.

Renault

Renault took over Benetton for 2002, but dropped Button at the end of the year

Jarno Trulli arrived in Fisichella’s place for 2002 and he and Button proved quite closely matched. Button was on target for a podium finish in the second round at Sepang until a tie-rod broke in his suspension, slowing him down and letting Michael Schumacher by for third on the final lap.

When the car was reliable Button usually brought it home in the points, allowing him to beat Trulli to seventh at the end of the season. But team boss Flavio Briatore promoted Fernando Alonso (whom Briatore managed) in Button’s place for 2003.

BAR

Button got on the podium six times in 2004

Fortunately Button found a strong supporter in BAR’s David Richards, and Button showed well alongside Jacques Villeneuve, whom Richards was only too keen to drop at the end of the year.

In 2004 Button became a regular visitor to the podium but he soured team relations with an attempted defection back to Williams.

Incredibly the same dispute happened in reverse in 2005 as he tried to extricate himself from a Williams contract after Honda bought out BAR. That season was more or less a write-off after the team were banned for two races.

Honda

Button finally ended his wait for an F1 win at Hungary in 2006

His reward came the following year at Hungary. After a difficult season where the team (now taken over by Honda) had failed to deliver on their strong off-season promise, Button put in a cool performance to win from 14th in slippery conditions.

The team ended the year on a high, Button scoring more points than any other driver in the final six rounds. But 2007 was a disaster. The Shuhei Nakamoto-designed RA107 was shockingly un-competitive, the team even languishing behind Super Aguri (who were using their 2006 chassis) in the opening rounds.

Button gritted his teeth and did the best he could, carving out six points by the end of the year, mainly thanks to a strong fifth in the rain at Shanghai. He at least compared favourably with team mate Rubens Barrichello, who failed to score at all.

Somehow it got even worse in 2008. Another year in a dreadfully un-competitive Honda, though this time Barrichello had the beating of him. All year long the team’s focus had been on readying itself for the 2009 season – but at the beginning of December Honda announced it was quitting the sport, and Button was left wondering if he’d ever get back into an F1 car.

Brawn

Jenson Button celebrates winning the world championship at Interlagos in 2009

Honda’s policy of sacrificing their 2008 campaign to work on the 2009 campaign would have paid off – if they’d stayed around to see it happen. Instead they put the team up for sale at the end of 2008 and Ross Brawn took over the running of the outfit.

Button stayed on board and was rewarded for his loyalty. The new car – now dubbed BGP 001 – was a sensation from the moment it first turned a wheel in practice. Button won from pole position at the opening round of 2009 in Melbourne and added five more wins over the next six races.

Things started to go wrong for Button at his home race, where he struggled to qualifying among the leaders. But he continued to deliver the goods on race day and consistent points-scoring meant none of his three major rivals were able to keep him from the title.

He won the championship at Brazil with a race to spare. It was a drive worthy of a champion – Button started 14th after a rain-hit qualifying session but raced to fifth, passing several rivals on the way despite needing to exercise caution to defend his championship lead.

Read more

• Jenson Button is F1 world champion
• Brawn GP: One incredible year (Video)

McLaren

But after the jubilant scenes at Interlagos came a surprise announcement: Button would not stay with his team, which had been taken over my Mercedes. Instead he moved to McLaren to join on the man whose championship he’d taken – Lewis Hamilton.

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Images (C) www.mclaren.com, Renault/LAT, Honda Racing F1, Honda Racing F1, Brawn GP