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Honda F1 Drivers: Jenson Button
By Phil Huff January 7 2006
The man from Frome, England, was thrust into the limelight following the announcement he would become a Williams F1 driver at the age of just 19. It wasn't just F1 for Jenson, though. Button started karting full time in 1989, winning the British Super Prix that year, followed by the British Cadet Championship in 1990.
In 1991 Button again won the British Cadet Championship, but this time managed to win every race. He also found the time to win the British Open Championship in the same year.

A switch to British Junior TKM in 1992 saw Button, rather predictably, win yet another championship. Again, he squeezed in a championship win in the British Open Championship.

A quiet year in 1993 saw Button take just one championship, but it was his third successive win in the British Open Championship. People started taking notice of Button, with offers of drives around Europe in place for 1994.

Taking part in the RAC British Junior Championship, where he finished fourth, Button also raced in the European Junior Intercontinental A championship, experiencing international competition for the first time, and winning a race in the process. A chance entry into the Italian Junior Intercontinental A Winter Championship saw another series win, so that's still at least one championship a year he's won so far!

Sticking in Italy for 1995, Button won the Senior ICA Championship, and also became the youngest ever runner-up in the Formula A World Championship held in France.

Button suffered a shock in 1996 - no championship wins! Still, 5th in the Euro Formula A championship, 3rd in the American Championship at Charlotte, and 3rd in the Suzuka-held World Cup is pretty good for a bad year.

With a works drive for 1997 sorted, Button warmed up with a 2nd place in the European Winter Super A Championship, before going one better in the summer - making him the youngest ever winner. A final win in the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup at Suzuka finished off the year.

Switching to cars in 1998, Button won the British Formula Ford championship and the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. After getting the runner-up position in the Euro Formula Ford championship, things couldn't get better.

They did. Button's performance through the year saw him with the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award, giving Button membership of the BRDC, a cheque for £50,000 (US$77,800), and test with F1 champions McLaren.

In 1999, third in British Formula 3 and 2nd in the Macau Grand Prix netted Button the Avon Rookie of the Year award, which accompanied his year testing for Williams F1. At the end of the year Button took part in a shoot-out for a Grand Prix seat with Williams. He won, leading to the unforgettable sight of Button taking three friends for a late night drive round Silverstone in an MGF. The MGF is a two seater.

Button shot to fame in 2000 with a number of solid rives in the new BMW Williams. Only once did a driver error put him out of the race, and the team were well impressed with his performance. A best finish of fourth, however, wasn't enough to keep his seat for 2001, as Williams had already signed CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya.

Renault took on Button for 2001, where he struggled to develop a poor car. Just one points finish on Germany (5th) led to team boss Flavio Briatore warning Button publicly that his F1 career could be over. Button didn't take any notice and bounced back for 2002. Seven points finishes gave Button a best ever 7th place in the championship, and the knowledge that he'd beaten much fancied team mate Jarno Trulli. That didn't stop Briatore dropping him for 2003.

Jenson admits to being surprised that Briatore dropped him, but patched together a deal to race with BAR for 2003/4 within a week. With Button's problems with the poor 2001 Renault behind him, it was time to prove himself. A storming season in 2003 with BAR Honda saw the young pretender outshine 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. Reliability problems saw too many opportunities squandered, but he did enough to prove he deserves a place in F1. His team mate left before the season was out.

A strong start to 2004 saw him get his first podium finish, at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Following that were a further nine podium finishes that saw Jenson climb to third in the drivers championship, behind only seven times World Champion Michael Schumacher and his team mate Rubens Barrichello. It was Button's best ever season, but wasn't enough to stop him trying to leave the team for Williams.

While Williams and BAR fought over who had rights to Jenson, the racer simply got on with the job in hand. BAR finally won the day, and so Jenson remained at the Brackley team for 2005, with the new BAR Honda 007 looking every bit as quick as its predecessor. Sadly, while there was a significant haul of points, the successes of 2004 couldn't be repeated, with the team getting off to a slow start in the season.

A total of 37 points in the season left him in ninth place, far enough ahead of his team mate that a new team mate was to come in for the 2006 season, although not before Jenson got involved in another contract dispute. Having signed (again) for Williams, who subsequently lost their Cosworth engines, he then decided to remain at BAR, now taken over entirely by Honda to become Honda Racing F1. After a number of heated meeting with team personnel, and the handing over a significant amount of cash, Jenson set about tackling the 2006 season.

Another poor start tot the season left Jenson with a handful of points by half distance, but then the Geoff Willis designed Honda RA106 burst in to life, with Button scoring more points in the latter half of the season than anybody else, world champions Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher included. A final breakthrough for the Briton occurred on 6 August 2006, when he secured his first ever Formula One race win at the Hungaroring, as changeable weather conditions meant smooth, accurate driving was more important than outright speed.

Finishing 2006 on a high, and with team and driver in third place in the championship, there are great expectations for 2007. Let's not keep dreaming...

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