Jenson Button is a British Formula One driver fromEngland currently signed to McLaren. He is the 2009 Formula One World Champion, driving for Brawn GP.
Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in theBritish Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula Three Championship. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 for the 2000 season.
Following the buy-out of Brawn by Mercedes, Button announced on 18 November 2009 that he would be leaving the team to move to McLaren for the 2010 season.He signed a three-year deal for a reported £6 million per season to drive alongside former world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Button said he moved because he wanted the motivation and challenge from competing head-to-head with Hamilton, and that Brawn GP had offered him more money.A number of people, including former Formula One drivers John Watson, Jackie Stewart andEddie Irvine, believed the move was a mistake, and that Button would struggle to compete with Hamilton at McLaren.
2011 began slowly for Button and McLaren, with Vettel dominating the early races. Button came second inMalaysia, and third in Spain and Monaco, losing the chance for a race win in the latter race after a red flag in the closing laps allowed Vettel and Alonso to change tyres. Two weeks later in Canada, Button took what he called the "best win of (his) career", overtaking Vettel on the final lap after Vettel made a mistake under pressure.
Button made five pit-stops, had his teammate crash into him, served a drive-through penalty for speeding under the safety car – dropping him to last place – as well as sustaining a puncture from a collision with Alonso, and made 27 on-track passes to win the longest Formula One race in history
In March 2013, Button announced that he intends to stay with McLaren until he retires. At the Australian Grand Prix, Button qualified tenth and finished ninth, despite the team admitting that they did not truly understand the way the McLaren MP4-28 behaved in race conditions.In Malaysia, Button started the race seventh, but retired just before the end of the race.
Source: DSX
