Overview

Born in a small English village in 1980, Jenson Button experienced his first taste of motorsport at the age of eight when his father, a rally driver, gave his son a kart. Jenson's younger years were spent competing in kart championships which he dominated from the start. Winning all thirty-four races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship was one of his highlights.

When he turned 18, Button moved up into single seater cars, where he continued his blinding pace in the British Formula Ford Championship, winning it with relative ease. His talent did not go unnoticed and in 1998 he was awarded the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award which gave him his first taste of a Formula 1 car a year later as the prize. Previous winners of this award include David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti, Gary Paffett, Anthony Davidson and Paul di Resta.

In 1999, Jenson was promoted to the British Formula 3 Championship, racing for Promatecme UK. He came third in the standings, taking three wins and three poles. It was enough though - in 2000, Button entered Formula 1.

Williams decided to give Button a chance, replacing Alex Zanardi, and naming Button Formula One's youngest ever F1 driver. The year wasn't entirely smooth though, as you would expect from a rookie, with numerous crashes that ended races (not to mention one during practice for the first race of the year). An unreliable FW22 didn't help either. However, after seventeen races, Jenson notched up 12 points which put him 8^th in the standings. A stellar performance from the twenty year-old.

The next two years were spent on loan at Benetton with Williams deciding to keep Jenson's contract rights. It was a torrid year for Button though - a very uncompetitive car and frequent out-qualification from his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella left him 17^th in the championship with just two points to his name. 2002 was better, with 14 points and the achievement of finishing ahead of his more experienced teammate, Jarno Trulli, in the standings.

It was announced in July of 2002 that Button would drive for British American Racing on a two year contract beginning in 2003. The first year resulted in two fourth place finishes for Jenson and he came 9^th overall in the championship, ahead of teammate Jacques Villeneuve.

2004 saw a much better for Button and BAR with the Briton taking his first career podium at the Malaysian Grand Prix. He would later go on to win a further nine more and secure third in the driver' championship. BAR finished second in the constructors', failing to match the dominance of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher.

The next year Jenson was optimistic after such a successful 2004. However, the car was not up to scratch and it took ten races before either Jenson or his teammate, Takuma Sato, scored. A surprise pole position at Canada led to Button crashing in the race and the fiasco at the US GP with the Michelin tyres also didn't help BAR's championship hopes. At the end of the year, Honda bought the remaining stake from BAR and drafted in Rubens Barrichello from Ferrari.

2006 didn't start off much better for Jenson and Honda with endless engine problems and unfortunate accidents during numerous races. However, the Hungarian Grand Prix was the turning point with Jenson gaining from wet conditions to win his first race in Formula 1, after starting 14^th on the grid. It was the first time that an English driver had won in Formula 1 in over seven years. With renewed confidence, Button scored more points than anyone else in the remaining six races, taking 35 points. He ended the year with 6^th place in the championship standings.

Jenson's rollercoaster career continued with two very poor seasons at Honda. An aerodynamically poor car meant Button only scored nine points during 2007 and 2008. At the end of which, Honda pulled out of the sport, citing economic concerns due to the worldwide recession.

With just weeks before the 2009 season, Ross Brawn, the former team principle of Honda Racing announced that he had secured a late buy-out of the team. Button took a reported 50% pay cut as part of the deal. The year was a fantastic success, with the team benefitting from the major aerodynamic rule changes, designing a double diffuser which was later banned from the sport. Six wins, four poles and 95 points secured the championship for Jenson. He was awarded the MBE by the Queen and had a street named after him in Frome.

In 2010, Button joined McLaren, signing a three year deal worth a reported £6m a year. A solid season for Jenson left him 5^th in the championship, but not quite out-performing his highly rated teammate, Lewis Hamilton. The move from Brawn GP seemed to be the right decision as Jenson won two races and stood on seven podiums. Brawn GP was taken over by Mercedes but the performance didn't match McLaren's.

2011 turned out to be Jenson's second most successful season ever with three race wins and twelve podiums to his name. For most of the season, he consistently bettered Hamilton who was struggling with his private life. A contract extension was provided by McLaren in the latter stages of the season with the new deal lasting three further years. Although he couldn't match the dominance of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, Button's performance improvement over the year was widely praised.

For this year, Button remains at McLaren but takes the number three from Hamilton. He'll know that Lewis will come back from a poor 2011 season much stronger but the confidence gained from 2011 will provide a huge boost.