Jensen Button

The story of Jensen Button is truly captivating as shows his struggles on and off the racing track from his early childhood all the way up to the end of his racing career in Formula One. Despite the book does not cover his life to the finer details of the setbacks and progressions Jensen experienced, it is still an  interesting read. 

John Button the father of Jensen was heavily into racing and was sitting on a fountain of knowledge to share with his son. John always encouraged Jensen to just enjoy himself and focus on his own performance throughout his whole career, knowing that the more you do that, the better you will perform. On Jensen 7th birthday his father brought him a Yamaha 50cc bike and he loved it from the first second, after riding for one day he was already asking his dad to take off the speed restriction. When his father took of the 20 mph restriction, the bike was able to shift to 30 mph, Jensen throttled the bike straight away and came flying off but without loss of enthusiasm gets back on the bike fearlessly however this time gradually builds up the speed as his father told him to do in the first place. The same year at the age of 7 his parents got divorced but he openly admits that he was not bothered, it was more his older sisters who would be affected.

One month before Jensen turned 8 his father brought him a Zipkart so he could compete in the karting category called cadets. From this point it was him and his dad on the road travelling all around England winning junior championships. However when Jensen entered his teenage years, this is where he started questioning his own ability as he was performing very badly as well as feeling like he had a lack of social life. Remember everyone goes through tough times, its the people who can survive those struggles who reach the very top. He describes it as having two lives, one being at school during the week where he was a quiet person and then at the weekend it was him and his father travelling to races with excitement. Just like any teenager who comes across the challenge of balancing social life along with chasing your dreams, he needed to make the best decision for his future so his focus was all about never giving up and keep believing formula one is possible. In 1989, aged nine, he came first in the British Super Prix. He won all 34 races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship. Further successes followed, including three triumphs in the British Open Kart Championship. In 1997, he won the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup, and also became the youngest driver ever to win the European Super A Championship. Along his journey to F1 his dad brought in various coaches to nature him, this is another great example of someone being super successful because of the major factor of being surrounded by the right people. 

Aged 18, Button moved into car racing, winning the British Formula Ford Championship with Haywood Racing; he also triumphed in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. At the end of 1998, he won the annual McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award. His prize included a test in a McLaren Formula One car, which he received at the end of the following year. Button entered the British Formula 3 Championship in 1999, with the Promatecme team. He won three times —at Thruxton, Pembrey and Silverstone—and finished the season as the top rookie driver, and third overall. 

After going through Formula 3000 which is one of the steps below Formula 1 he finally broke into Formula 1 for Williams Team which didn't go so well for him and eventually got dropped as well as breaking up with his girlfriend. After many trials and rejections Jensen has then been the racer of Benetton/Renault, BAR, Honda, Brawn GP and McLaren. During his career like any successful person, it was always up and down but never giving up. In 2009 JB got his rewards by winning the Formula 1 World Championship for Brawn GP.