The strange case of Jenson Button

Well it was certainly big news for the Brits in Formula One this week. As you will all know Lewis Hamilton thrillingly clinched victory from the jaws of defeat on the final lap of the race and David Coulthard bowed out with a crash on the first corner, after what has been a distinguished Formula one career. But one British man who flew very much under the radar at the final Grand Prix of the 2008 season was the former Golden Boy of British motor sport, Jenson Button.
Button burst on the scene in the sport in the spring of 2000 with the Williams team, who had a one year opening on their roster as they waited for Juan Pablo Montoya who scheduled to join the team for the following season. It was a fantastic opportunity for a rookie driver and Jenson held his own in his debut season finishing in eighth place in the driver’s championship and proving that he had the potential to do great things in Formula One.
However as all British motorsport fans have discovered it hasn’t quite worked out the way it was supposed to for Button. After leaving Williams his next port of call was at the Benetton team that had recently been purchased by Renault, where he was to endure somewhat mixed results as he struggled with a car that was often uncompetitive and always undergoing development. Button, though, continued to show flashed of his ability and narrowly missed out on his first podium finish in 2002 after finishing fourth in the Malaysian Grand Prix after his suspension failed on the final lap allowing him to be overtaken by Michael Schumacher.
In the 2003 season his career took a turn for the worse when Renault boss Flavio Briatore announced his intention to replace Button with the team’s former test driver Fernando Alonso. Despite outcry in the media Briatore stated “Time will tell if I am wrong.” Alonso then went on to win world title in 2005 and 2006. Pushed further on the subject in an interview he gave with the times Briatore had this to say on the subject of the British drivers dismissal. “Jenson is a fine driver but there were too many contracts, too many things in the background.”
His next move was to BAR Honda alongside former world champion Jacques Villeneuve and Button made a promising start to his career at his new team, outpacing his illustrious team mate for much of the season. The season that followed is by far his greatest so far in the sport. He finished in third place in the drivers championship behind the two dominant Ferrari cars, finishing on the podium ten times, and scoring 85 points though his maiden victory was to remain out of his grasp.
What then followed was a number of contractual disputes that became a somewhat messy affair for all those involved with the eventual outcome that Jenson decided to stay where he had been anyway believing that Honda offered him the best chance of securing the Formula One success that he craved.
Despite all this turmoil off the track Jenson was still doing all that he could to wring some points out of what he would once describe as a ‘dog of a car’ and his persistence paid off when in his 113th Grand Prix he achieved his first victory, showcasing all of his talents in winning in the wet after starting in 14th place on the grid.
The 2007 season was one to forget and was described by the man himself as a ‘complete disaster’ and 2008 was no better with Jenson scoring a measly three points in what was undoubtedly one of the worst cars on the grid. However optimism is surprisingly high in the Button camp for the 2009 season after the recruitment of Ross Brawn to the Honda garage, with Brawn being the man who famously guided Michael Schumacher to five World Championships in a row.
I for one hope that next season Honda produce a car to match the undoubted talent of Button. If they don’t he is quickly in danger of becoming the forgotten man of Formula One. However if they do there is no question in my mind that Button could play a major part in what could be one of the closely fought contests in the history of the sport with Alonso, Raikonnen, Massa, Kubica and hopefully Button aiming to steal away Hamilton’s World Championship. I believe that given the right circumstances in the next couple of years we could be looking at another British World Champion.