41-year-old Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) was born on 19 January 1980 and is a British racing driver.
When he drove for the Brawn GP team, he won the 2009 Formula One World Championship.
Alongside Naoki Yamamoto (with whom he shared a Honda racing car at Team Kunimitsu), Jenson became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT Series, following his F1 career.
Jenson is 6 ft 1 in tall and he weighs 82 kgs.
Jenson was eight years old when he started karting and achieved early success.
For the 2000 F1 season, he drove for Williams. And then he progressed to car racing in the British Formula 3 Championship and the British Formula Ford Championship.
In the 2004 World Drivers’ Championship, he finished third and additionally, ninth in the 2005 championship.
After 113 races in the 2006 season, BAR was consequently renamed as Honda for the season; at that time Jenson won his first Grand Prix in Hungary.
In December 2008, Button was left without a team for the 2009 season after the withdrawal of Honda from the sport.
After a few months, he became a part of the Brawn GP team that was formed by Ross Brawn.
The team was mostly formed with the management of Honda.
Furthermore, Jenson won six of the seven races and also secured his position on the World Drivers’ Championship at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
In the 2010 season, he partnered with Lewis Hamilton, a fellow British racer, and decided to move to McLaren.
In the 2010 season, Jenson finished in the fifth position.
Additionally, in the 2011 season, he finished as a runner-up while in the 2012 season, in the fifth position.
Jenson’s final F1 race was the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix.
Early life, education and career
Jenson was born in Frome, and he grew up in Vobster, Mells, a village in Somerset.
His mother, Simone Lyons is a half-South African and his father, John Button, from London’s East End, is a former rallycross driver,
He was most famous in the United Kingdom for racing his Volkswagen Type 1, which called by its nickname, Colorado Beetle.
Jenson got his name from Erling Jensen, his father’s Danish friend, and rallycross opponent.
His parents met in Newquay at a young age. They were then reunited during a concert at Longleat.
Around the age of five or six, Jenson started watching Formula One (F1) motor racing with his father.
Jenson had a love for racing right from his school time when he used to race with a BMX bike against his friends.
Jenson is also known for his calm personality and intellectual approach to driving, which he credits to his childhood idol, Alain Prost, a four-time world champion.
He and his three elder sisters were brought up by their mother in Frome after his parents divorced when he was seven years old.
He received his education from Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School, and Frome Community College.
During his first driving license test, he failed after driving between two cars on a narrow road.
Jenson became Britain’s youngest ever F1 driver after a vacant race seat became available at the Williams team.
Frank Williams, the team founder and the principal, called Jenson for the seat, who thought it was a joke and said no after being asked to drive in F1.
Jenson’s father talked him out and told him to call Williams.
Afterward, a test was arranged between Jenson and Bruno Junqueira, F3000 racer and test driver.
Jenson secured the drive and gave the test in a modified Williams FW21B car.
He did not have an FIA Super License at that time and he was required to compete for 300 km on two continuous days of testing, by the director of FIA, Max Mosley.
Finally, a super license was issued to Jenson and he started to work on his physical strength to drive an F1 car.
Personal life
Jenson was engaged to Louise Griffiths, an actress, and singer. However, they both got separated after ending their relationship of five years in 2005.
From 2014 to 2015, Jenson was married to model Jessica Michibata, his long-time girlfriend.
Afterward, he got married to Brittny Ward. The couple has a son and a daughter together.
Jenson lives in Los Angeles with his family.
When Jenson was married to Jessica, he used to live with her at a rented Saint-Tropez home.
One night, robbers successfully looted his house and stole some expensive belongings including his wife’s engagement ring (£250,000). Other belongings worth £300,000 were also stolen.
The burglars escaped through the air conditioning system.
Controversy
Jenson was involved in a contract dispute when he was working with BAR and wanted to shift to Williams. This was because BAR were not a works manufacturer team.
Jenson also made headlines when a former Lotus and Renault development driver in F1, Carmen Jorda, passed a comment about women facing a physical issue in driving for Formula One and Two.
Jenson shut down this comment by saying that he knows many female drivers who can beat him in the gym and even are as strong as any driver.
| Name | Jenson Alexander Lyons Button |
| Born | 19 January 1980 |
| Age | 41 |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in |
| Weight | 82 kgs |
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 2000-2017 |
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