Jenson Button is the 2009 Formula 1 champion and famous British race car driver. Played for the team "Brown". He was a reserve driver and ambassador for the McLaren team. Jenson is currently competing in the Japanese Super GT race with the Kunimitsu team.
Biography, Jenson Button's story
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button was born in Frome, Somerset, UK on January 19, 1980. When he was young, his family moved to Wobster, a town near Frum. His mother, Simone Lyons, is of South African descent, and his father, John Button, is a well-known British rally driver. Jenson Button's parents divorced when he was seven years old. Button was named after John's friend, Danish rally driver Erling Jensen. The parents of the future racer changed one letter in his name to avoid association with Jensen Motors. Jenson Button called his father "Papa Smurf" by analogy with the character of the same name from the universe of the Smurfs.
Janson's father, John Button, died of a heart attack at his home on the French Riviera on January 12, 2014 at the age of seventy.
The future champion attended Wallis Elementary School, Selwood High School and Froome Community College.
From an early age, Jenson Button was fond of racing. As a child, he raced BMX bikes at school, and then at the age of nine he took up karting at the Clay Pigeon Raceway after John gave his son his first kart. Jenson quickly achieved success and came first in almost all competitions. When he was eleven, he won all 34 races in the British Cadet Kart Championship.
The achievements didn't stop there. In 1997, seventeen-year-old Jenson Button became the youngest driver to win the European Super A Championship.
At the age of eighteen, he left karting and moved into auto racing. The same year saw his first victory in the British Formula Ford Championship, where he came first in nine races in a row. It is also a triumphant festival of the British "Formula Ford". At the age of eighteen, Jenson Button won the McLaren Motorsport BRDC Young Driver Award.
In 1999, with the Promatecme team, he began to compete in the British Formula 3. He won three times: at Silverstone, Truxton and Pembry. Finished the season as the best rookie.
List of teams that Button was a member of
- "Williams" (2000).
- "Benetton" (2001).
- Reno (2002).
- BAR (2003-2005).
- Honda (2006-2008).
- "Brown GP" (2009).
- McLaren (2010-2017).
- "Kunimitsu" (2018).
Private life
Jenson Button is a resident of the Principality of Monaco, like many of his colleagues. Button currently lives on the British island of Guernsey.
From 2000 to 2005, he was in a relationship (and was even engaged) to actress Louise Griffiths. In 2009, Jenson's girlfriend was the Japanese model Jessica Michibata. Jenson Button and Jessica have been together for five and a half years with short breaks. In 2014, the couple got engaged in the Hawaiian Islands, but a year later they announced a divorce. The model and race car driver remain on good terms.
Since 2016, Jenson Button began a relationship with model Britney Ward. Recently, Jenson announced that the couple is preparing for the wedding.
December 8, 2016 Button received his PhD in Engineering from the University of Bath, Somerset.
Bibliography
To date, the racing driver has released three books:
- "Jenson Button: My Formula One Life", co-authored with David Tremaine, released 2002 by Bantam Press.
- "One Year Championship" - released in 2010 by "Orion" publishing house.
- "Jenson Button: Life on the Limit: My Autobiography", released in 2017 by BlinkPublishing".
Interesting facts
- In the circle of family and friends, the racing driver is called Jens.
- Jenson Button's height is 183 centimeters.
- Jenson is a good friend of Scottish actor David Coulthard.
- In 2010 he was awarded a royal award: the MBE Order of Merit in Motorsport.
- Jenson has three older sisters.
- Button has four tattoos. Three of them are kanji, one of which means "one" in Japanese, and the fourth is a picture of a button on the forearm.
- On September 5th, 2011, Jenson Button opened a restaurant called "Victus" in Harrogate, UK. However, the venture was not profitable. A year later, the restaurant closed due to lack of funds to finance it.
- In August 2015, Jessica and Jenson suffered a robbery at their home in Saint-Tropez. The thieves stole a lot of equipment and valuables worth three hundred thousand pounds sterling.
- In October 2015, Jenson won the triathlon in Hermosa Beach, California.
- Founded the Jenson Button Trust.
- Won the Horton Commemorative Trophy and the Lorenzo Bandini Award.
Jenson Button is a big figure in motorsport and one of the most famous Formula 1 drivers. Thanks to his father, Jensen started racing as a child and achieved impressive results oninternational level. Now Button is 38 years old, and he continues to do what he loves.
