
Jenson Button was born in Frome, Somerset in 1980, son of Simone Lyons and John Button, for Rallycross driver. His first experience of motorsport came at an early age. When he was eight years old his father bought him his first kart. He took to motorsport very quickly and in 1991 he managed to win all 34 races of the British Cadet Kart Championship. The following years saw further Karting success, culminating in 1997 becoming the youngest ever driver to win the Super A championship
By the age of 18 Jenson had progressed to single seater car racing with the British formula Ford championship, winning 9 races and taking the title. That year he was also awarded the McLaren Autosport BRDC young driver award.
The following year he joined the Formula three championship, winning three races and ending the season as the leading rookie and third overall in the championship.
It was at the end of that year that Jenson Button had his first taste of Formula 1 action. As part of his McLaren Autosport BRDC young driver award that he won the previous year he had a test drive in a McLaren F1 car. Following the exit of Alex Zanardi, a seat had become available in the Williams F1 team. Having been awarded that Williams drive he went on to finish eighth in the 2000 F1 drivers championship. Sadly the next few years driving for the Benetton team lacked the success he had previously enjoyed.
2003 saw Jenson replaced by Fernando Alonso in the Renault F1 team. He joined the British American Racing team alongside former world champion Jaques Villeneuve.
2004 saw a turnaround in Jenson's fortunes.. His first ever F1 podium finish eventually came at the Malaysian grand prix, finishing third and then went on to 9 further podium finishes. By the end of the season he was third in the driver's championship, behind the two Ferrari drivers.
In August of 2004 Jenson announced that he had signed for the Williams team for the next two years, causing a lengthy contract dispute. However the switched was ruled legal by the FIA and Jenson moved team. Further contract controversy was raised at the end of 2005 when Jenson decided that BMW's decision to stop supplying engines to the Williams team limited his prospects. Buying himself out of the Williams contract he then went back to the BAR team for 2006, driving alongside Rubens Barrichello, ex Ferrari driver.
In 2006 the BAR team was bought by Honda, becoming Honda Racing F1 Team. Jenson took his first ever F1 victory at the Hungarian grand prix that year and went on to finish sixth in the drivers championship
The next two years were frustrating for Jenson as he struggled to find any form and doubts were aired over his future and ability to win a championship. Previous British world champion was quoted as saying " if he is serious.. he has to get himself a car that is a championship contender" and even the Guardian newspaper quoted "Button will win a couple more races but is not a title contender". It was however proved that the car was aerodynamically poor, rather than being a lack of skill on Jenson's part. His frustrations culminated in describing the 2007 season as a total disaster and the car as ' a complete dog'. On the 5th December 2008 it was announced by Honda that they were quitting Formula One due to the global economic crisis, leaving Jenson's F1 future hanging in the balance.
On the 5th March 2009, Jenson's F1 career received a lifeline. After months of waiting for a buyer for the Honda F1 team it was announced that the team was to become Brawn GP, with Ross Brawn, former Honda Racing team principle buying out the team. The world of F1 was about to see history being made, and Jenson's F1 career revived.
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