November 7th, 2011
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Jenson Alexander Lyons Button or simply, Jenson Button is a professional British motorsport racer currently plying his trade with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in Formula 1. Button was born on the 19th of January in 1980 in the Frome region of Somerset in the United Kingdom but he spent his early years at the nearby Vobster region. His mother is a South African named Simone Lyons and his father John was a former driver on the Rally Cross circuit and his claim to fame in the United Kingdom at that time was for the Colorado Beetle Volkswagen that he owned. John named his son Jenson after his friend Erling Jensen but changed the ‘e’ to ‘o’ in order to avoid the confusion with Jensen Motors. Jenson Button began his career as a motorsport racer at the age of eight when he was bought a go kart by his father and he was immensely successful in the British go karting circuit. In the 1989 season of the British Super Prix, Jenson won the championship at just the age of 9 years. In the 1991 British Cadet kart Championship, Button won an unprecedented 34 races in the season, which was also the total number of races that were held in a single calendar year and this brought him the title. He won three championships in the British Open Kart Championships, the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup in 1997 and became the youngest ever driver to hold aloft the championship trophy for the European Super A Championship.
At the age of 18 years, Button moved up to racing cars and won the British Formula Ford Championship at his very first attempt and at the end of the 1998 season, he was the winner of the McLaren Auto Sport BRDC Young Driver Award, the prize for which was the chance to test drive the McLaren Formula 1 car. Jenson Button made his first foray into the world of Formula 1 when he signed for Williams in 2000 before moving to Benetton the following season to partner Giancarlo Fisichella. After the team changed its name to Renault F1 in 2002, Button had a new partner in Jarno Trulli. Between 2003 and 2005, he raced for the British American Racing team and between 2006 and 2008, for the Honda team which had bought the BAR team. He won his first and only world championship with Brawn GP in 2009 before moving to McLaren Mercedes at the start of the 2010 season.
May 14th, 2013
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There has been a lot of tension between teammates this season, and McLaren driver Jenson Button has added to the tension by saying that his teammate Sergio Perez has been driving dangerously in the recent Bahrain Grand Prix. The former world champion has said that Perez is trying to bang wheels and wings at 300 kph, which is extremely dangerous. He has said that the 22-year-old Mexican needs to calm down. The McLaren drivers were fighting for the fifth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The race eventually finished with Button finishing in the 10th place, while Perez finished in the sixth position. Button’s race was destroyed in the latter stages as a result of tyre dehydration of the highest order. Button was complaining on the team radio that Perez was driving dangerously close to him at very high speeds. After the race, though, the Brit said that emotions were running high during the race. Looking back, he would probably say the same thing in such a situation. Button praised his teammate for finishing in the sixth position, which has helped the team to get some points in the constructor’s championship.
The team boss Martin Whitmarsh did not interfere in the race by instructing the two drivers to calm down a bit.
“I’m not used to driving down a straight and your team-mate wiggling his wheels at you and banging wheels at 300kph. That’s things you do in karting but grow out of. Not the case with Checo. I was very vocal on the radio – emotions were running high – but I would say the same thing again. We’ll have to have a little chat I think because I don’t like banging wheels at 300kph. That’s dangerous,” said Button after the race. The next race will be at Spain in the second week of May.
March 27th, 2013
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The McLaren driver Jenson Button has said that he is extremely surprised that the German Sebastian Vettel chose to ignore the team does in the recent Malaysian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was trailing his teammate Mark Webber going into the final few laps of the race. It is understood that Webber was told by his team to save his engine and tires, but Vettel chose to ignore the orders and overtook an unexpected Webber following intense fight over a few corners. Webber ultimately chose to giving to Vettel, but the Australian was visibly disappointed during the post race events.
Button has acknowledged that team orders are a touchy and difficult situation. However, it becomes even more controversial when a driver chooses to ignore it as in the case of Vettel. He has said that there will certainly come a time when the 25-year-old Vettel will be on the receiving side of such an incident. There have been rumours that Red Bull have been giving preferential treatment to Vettel over the years, and this incident does little to suppress them. Button was also involved in a similar incident with his teammate Lewis Hamilton back in 2010, but he has said that this is very different. Button has said that his incident was largely due to a misunderstanding.
“We all want to win but Sebastian drives for Red Bull and they have to call the shots. So many times it has worked in his favour. I think that will hurt him in the long run. I am surprised he did that. I find team orders difficult but to disregard a team order is something different. At the start of the race, they knew they had team orders. That’s the bigger issue. I am not a fan of giving a driver preferential treatment but the issue here is that Vettel did not want team orders,” said Button.
February 26th, 2013
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There is extra pressure on the shoulders of the McLaren driver Jenson Button this season because he is the only experienced driver of the team. The team decided to replace the British driver Lewis Hamilton with the inexperienced Mexican Sergio Perez. Last season, Button was competing alongside Hamilton aside from the other drivers on the grid, but there is an expectation this season that Button will be leading the way for McLaren this time around. McLaren have the policy of not favouring one driver over the other, but the experience of Button is surely going to help him put up a challenge for the title.
It also puts a lot of pressure on his shoulders when it comes to lead the team, but the Englishman has said that it is something that he enjoys. Button managed to win the first race of the last season, and he will be hoping to begin the new season in the same fashion. Button only managed two victories last season, and he has admitted that it is something that he would like to change this time around. Button will certainly be amongst the most experienced drivers in the paddock after the departures of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. The 32-year-old has one world championship title to his name.
“I love the role of being the experienced driver and that is definitely the case this year. I think I am the most experienced guy in F1 in 2013. Melbourne was great. We had a really good winter and by the time of the first race we felt we were really competitive. Qualifying obviously went well with first and second on the grid, then I got a great start and led from start to finish. I felt really positive after the race and the weekend so we were really excited about the season ahead,” said Button.
