Jack Leslie becomes the first person to write a guest article for my site, discussing Jenson Button's career.
Born on the 19th January 1980, Jenson Alexander Lyons Button was born into a racing family. Unlike some of todays current F1 stars he did not have a typically privileged background and often his father John would have to borrow money to take him around the UK as he started up.
At age 8 Button began to kart after his father bought him his first go kart. He loved it and that's when the talent became noticed. He battled through financial problems to cause a stir in the karting world winning numerous karting championships such as the British Kadet Kart Championship
and later on the European Super A Championship.
He then later took on single seaters in first the British Formula Ford Championship winning it, and after the British Formula 3 championship coming 3rd. He also won the Mclaren Autosport BRDC Young driver award in 1998.
He became noticed by Frank Williams, who had seen him test with the Prost F1 team and requested him for a shoot out against Bruno Junqueira. Button got the drive and impressed in his first season scoring 12 points and classing 8th in the table. After he had a dismal year with Benetton, before being re branded
Renault in 2002, Button had a good year consistently beating Jarno Trulli, his team mate.
BAR beckoned in 2003 and he came 9th in the championship with 17 points. 2004 was when everyone took notice however as he firmly stamped his mark on the sport, racking up 10 podiums and a pole position too end the season 3rd in the standings, with 85 points.
2005 was a difficult year after promising pre season testing pace. He had previously been in a contract battle with Williams who wanted to sign him but he kept on going with BAR Honda. His year was dismal until the French grand prix where he scored the teams first points, and scored all 37 of his points in the later half of the year. He was classed overall 9th, but could of been better as he scored a podium in the 4th round at Imola, only to be disqualified for a rule break, and banned from the Spanish and Monaco Gp.
2006 saw Jenson secure his first Grand Prix win in Hungary and took another pole position in Australia. The car was expected to be in
championship contention but again Honda where wrong, he ended the season 6th with 56 points, although he scored more points than anyone else in the last 6 rounds, 35.
2007 and 2008 where difficult years for Jenson and the Honda team, in both season combined he only scored 9 points. It was a testing time for the team and Button was frustrated.
2009 was a season to remember for everyone. After Honda pulled out of F1 in late 2008 Button was left without a drive, and it was a worrying time. Ross Brawn saved the team branding it Brawn Gp and the car was
competitive from the season opener. He won 6 of the first 7 Grand Prixs and in the season had 6 wins, 4 poles, 2 fastest laps and 9 podiums. This helped him win an emotional first world championship with 95 points. He even had 1 race to spare. It was an emotional time for everyone, and the whole of the UK where ecstatic.
2010 was a good year compared to others, and he won 2 Grand Prixs, had 1 fastest lap and 7 podiums with his new team Mclaren. The car was competitive but a series of mistakes by other drivers, Vettel in Belgium, and a car failure in
Monaco cost him better results. He came 5th in the standings with 214 points, with the new points system.
2011 is going well too even though Sebastian Vettel is running away with it. After the Hungarian Gp Button has 2 wins, 1 fastest lap and 5 podiums already with alot of the season left to go. He is currently 5th in the standings.
Jenson Button has many qualities that make him a great F1 driver and worthy champion. He is very determined and is a friendly guy which means he gets on well with team members, a must in F1 where close relationships help.
He also has a talent of driving, he has all the qualities an f1 driver should have, Quick reactions, good fitness, stamina, strength, technical knowledge, communication and many others. His driving styles is very smooth and graceful
which means he can save tyre wear which is very important in the 2011 season. He has beautifully co-ordinated steering and throttle movements which cause this smooth style, often compared to Alain Prost, and means his driving is very
detailed. He is also very intelligent and has a good strategic mind, often helping him in difficult conditions like Canada and Hungary 2011 and Hungary 2006.
He is world renowned for his driving in tricky conditions, i.e. dry to wet/wet to dry. He has blamed this on his father, John Button, who he said refused to buy him wet weather tyres during early single seater days so he got used to driving in the wet on slicks, and feeling when the track is evolving so he can change compounds of tyre.
His personality is very caring, friendly and humerus. He has typically got on well with all of his previous team mates but
does not hold back on the track. I have met him twice and he is such a nice guy, and has respect for everyone which
makes me respect him more. When he signed my cap the first time, he asked how i was and if i was having a good time,
as this was at the Autosport International Motorshow back in 2008.
I remember the first time i saw his car on tv, it was the British Gp 2000 and he had raced to a points finish which impressed me. I have always been biased to British Drivers but Jenson was special. I continued to follow F1 but at a random pace, before 2004. What caught my eye was his 2004 season, the first full season i watched and when i got hooked. His driving was great, the smoothness, preciseness, the way he controlled the car and he had a good overtaking skill too. From then on I have been a F1 and Jenson fanatic.
He also loves his fans a lot, and appreciates the support often thanking them for supporting him through the tough times.
Jenson Button, he is a worthy world champion and that is why he is my favourite driver.
By Jack Leslie @JackLeslieF1 as guest blogger.. http://jackleslief1.blogspot.com/
I also believe that Jenson Button is a great driver and a worthy World Champion. And I wouldn't bet against him winning another title in one of the next seasons! There were a lot of people who thought that Hamilton would destroy Button in McLaren team but the reality has turned out to be completely different. Let's not forget that it is extremely challening to do what Button did in 2010, I mean, to join a team who has a world champion and a superstar as the team's established driver. But Button has been coping with this challenge very well. He lost a lot of points in Nurburgring and Valencia through no fault of his own. Without this car trouble, he would have more points than Hamilton and be second in the Championship standings now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the last couple of articles. I hope you guys will become F1 journalists some day.
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There’s a huge range of ride on cars for kids available these days and many of them have a surprising range of facilities. There are performance facilities, safety features and even in car entertainment facilities that mimic Mum and Dads proper grown up car. If you’re expecting the pedal cars of old think again. These really are the Rolls Royce’s of the ride on cars for kids world (although there’ not actually any Rollers)