From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button
,
MBE
(born 19 January 1980
[1]
in
Frome
,
Somerset
) is a
British
Formula One
driver currently signed to
McLaren
Mercedes
. Button won the
Formula One World Drivers' Champion
in 2009. His father
John Button
(1943?2014) was a racing driver.
In 2000, Button joined the
BMW WilliamsF1 Team
at the age of 20, with
Ralf Schumacher
. He became the youngest driver to score a point at the
Brazilian Grand Prix
. He scored points six times during 2000, his highest place finish being in
Germany
where he finished fourth. His highest place on the grid for the start of the race was 3rd position in
Belgium
. He scored 12 points that year, and finished 8th in the championship.
In 2001, he changed teams to the
Benetton
team, and raced alongside
Giancarlo Fisichella
. He did not have much success. His best finish was 5th place at
Hockenheim
. Some people thought that Button would move teams because of his bad results, but stayed at the team for 2002, which was now called
Renault
. His results were much better than in 2001, scoring in the points many times and doing better than his teammate
Jarno Trulli
. He almost scored a podium result in
Barcelona
, but could not finish the race. Even though Button was doing well, Briatore signed
Fernando Alonso
for 2003, and Button had to find a new team. In July 2002, he signed for the
BAR
team, and would race with
Jacques Villeneuve
, who won the championship in 1997. Button finished the season in seventh with fourteen points, just ahead of Trulli.
*
Season in progress.
(
key
) (Races in
bold
indicate pole position) (Races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
*
Season in progress.
†
Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.