Jenson Button
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(J r-trtr w NL}NTtL U .{3rT"ri,H a e*.a.'! ** *r_8, #"*, i f;T >-**s- 4aJ- i' I JENSON BUTTON but it's even hotter inside your racing suit than you in 1lth. And perhaps, finally, some- The Autosporl award led to an Fl try-out and helmet, despite the black umbrella that where in the back of your mind, you know with Prost, and further tests with Mclaren shades you from the sharp sunlight. You've that when the greatest and most charismatic and Stewart-Ford (now Jaguar). A11 made been training hard - physically and mentally driver ofthe modern era, Ayrton Senna, died him offers. But it was Frank Williams, call- for seven weeks for this moment, and feel in a crash at Imola rn 1994, he too was driv- ing first on Jenson's mobile while he sat in fitter and more confident than you have ever ing a Williams car. You could be forgiven for a pub with his mates, who eventually signed done in your life. But, inevitably there are feeling a little nervous. him on a "multi-year contract", after a head- certain bodily impulses it's impossible to to head shoot-out at the Barcelona circuit control: you feel your pulse quickening, your Perhaps lUlichael (Dwen's first England with young Brazilian Bruno Junquiera. mouth drying, and the adrenaline kicking in. appearance aged 17 comes close, as does While there are precedents, most notably In front ofyou is a m6l6e ofcars, drivers, Sergio Garcia's place in the Ryder Cup team Piquet, Prost and Senna, for drivers making mechanics, managers, sponsors, officials, TV aged 19 and Jonny Wilkinson's first outings the transition from Formula 3 to Formula crews, grid gir1s, girlfriends, ceiebrities and in an England rugby shirt aged?0, but it is One without spending a season in Formula hangers-on. To your left, there are the flags hard to recall a sporting debut quite as dra- 3000, or as an Fl test driver, and while Button and banners of the Fl fans crowded into matic as Jenson Button's. has explained memorably, "If I'm good grandstands named after the legends ofthe The presentation has certainly helped. With enough, I'm old enough", in some quarters sport: Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and, a name that could have been lifted straight out the WilliamsFl decision has been greeted your hero, Michael Schumacher, now a fel- of the pages of 7Z e B eano, aHollywood screen- with scepticism and scorn. low competitor. Before you stepped into the play, or a novel by Martin Amis,Jenson Button Some argue there is no substitute for expe- car a few minutes ago, you could feel the exhil- was always, after all, going to grab media atten- rience and race craft: "I hope Button can iration and expectation of more than I 25.000 tion. That he also possesses an accessible, boy- handle it," says Mika Salo. "If not, it will be fans as an almost physical presence. band-type image, a winning sense of humour a big mess. He could hurt himself, or some- But you are trying not to feel, or to think. and a fine line in self-deprecation and a very one else." It is an expedient move, borne out You cannot consider the enormity ofthe task skilled management and PR team has only ofpanic and the influence ofPR, others sug- that faces 1ou. \ou are trling lo concentrate, added to his fame. You sense Jenson Button gest: "I don't believe you can go straight and to put all doubts behind you. had media sawy from an early age. from kindergarten to university," argues You know that you are the youngest ever What seems incontrovertible, however, is Jackie Stewart. It is far too early, others say: British racing driver, and the fifth youngest that he is a remarkable talent. He is natu "I do not believe that young Button should in the history of the sport. You've been rally quick. The son of a former rally cross be on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix," described as "the next Ayrton Senna" and racer, John Button, who finished second in writes Martin Brundle in the Sunday Express. "the Michael Owen of motorsport", but you British Championship ir 1976, he has "It is too early for him, not just by a season know that others have questioned your abil- extraordinary reflexes and reaction speeds, but by two or three years." ity and argued that, because little over two and an ability to learn a track and its chal- Even Frank Williams admits to me in years ago you were driving karts, you're not lenges almost on his first outing. Melbourne that the decision was carried by experienced enough to even be on the grid. He won his first race in a go kart aged eight the narrowest of margins, and that he was Either way, the spotlight has been intense; and went on to win all six rounds of the British "badgered into it by lots of well-meaning peo- since you signed to the BMW-WilliamsFl Cadet Championship at I I . At 15 he was run- ple, mainly journalists". Did the PR value of Team at the end ofJanuary, every turn of ner-up in the World Karting Championship; signing him count for anything? "No. It did your wheel and flick of your gelled hair has and in 1997, aged 17 (the year he failed his not. We made the decision purely on techni- been pored over by a media and public hun- drir ing resf), he was the youngesl erer win- cal and driver merit. I don't know enough yet gry for a new British sports star. ner of the European Super A Championship. - no one does butJenson's progress to date You're aware, too, that it lot only costs "The best two kart racers I have seenr" says has been remarkable. He is exceptionally your team around d3m to enter you in this one of his team owners, Paul Lemmens, "are young, but we think he's exceptionally gifted, one race, and that more than {100 million Ayrton Senna and Jenson Button." and our thinking was that ifhe was that good ofsponsorship rides on your debut season, In his first year ofcar racing, he triumphed at 19 or 20, then he can only get better." but also that you are driving for one ofthe in the British Formula Ford title and the Franz Tost, who is Ralf Schumacher's most successful teams in motorsport. You prestigious Formula Ford Festival, being manager and who has watchedJenson in sev- know that this is the tea4 with which Damon named Autosporl's Young Driver of the Year. eral tests, agrees. "I would honestly say that, Hill and Nigel Mansell won their world And in Formula 3 last yeaq although he fin- right now, Button is one ofthe top five driv- championships, as did such legendary driv- ished only third in the championship, he ers in the world. He is a phenomenon." ers as AIanJones and Nelson Piquet. continued to make a marl. You know also that WilliamsFl has a cer- "I watchedJenson in 1999's big, blue-rib- The uneek before the Australian Grand tain bulldog reputation for hiring and firing, bon Formula 3 Grand Prix in Macau, and I Prix, I join Button at Silverstone for his final and that it is no arena for drivers with fragile was very, very impressed," says ITV's pits two days ofpre-season testing. The contrast egos. While nothing was said, you know that reporter James Allen. 'ilt was the biggest couldn't be more extreme. On the first day, your performance yesterday, when you race of his career, his first time at the cir- the test is blighted by torrential rain; on the crashed heavily during only the second lap cuit, and he didn't hare a good engine in his second the northerly wind is so biting that of your practice session, qualifying 21st car, but he built up his performance in prac it brings hail and sleet. o:ut of 22, was not quite what the BMW- tice, and three or four minutes before the The WilliamsF 1 garage is also far removed WilliamsFl Team expect. Especially as your end of qualifying he stuck it on the front from the sunny atmosphere in Melbourne. gifted, Z4-year-old German teammate, Ralf row. The special guys in motor racing always At Silverstone it's about the serious busi- Schumacher, who unavoidably provides a do that: when the big question is asked, they ness ofengineering technology, and about direct comparison, finished 1.6 seconds faster always come through with the right answer." preparing the team's new FW22 car for its Mov 2000 e ]65 JENSON BUTTON probably the only circuit I've driven both in The damage to the car is extensive: it f I listen to a Formula 3 and Formula One car, and I can destrols the f,ront and relr suspension on really tell the difference. It's so much faster; the left hand side, and affects the steering, the speed is quite staggering." floor and the front and rear wings. You sus- As he heads off to chat to a couple of mates, tain a blow to the knee that isn't serious, but Britney. his youth instantly strikes me. It is not that for a couple ofhours you need to apply ice he is callow In fact, he seems remarkably packs to reduce the swelling.