They were subsequently renamed Honda for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, after 113 races. He was educated at Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School and Frome Community College. After his parents divorced when he was seven, he and his three elder sisters were brought up by their mother in Frome. Further successes followed, including three triumphs in the British Open Kart Championship. 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. Button’s best qualification of the season was third place in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps; and his best result was fourth in the German Grand Prix. Under safety car conditions Button swerved to avoid the pack which had bunched up, and subsequently crashed into the barrier; he blamed Michael Schumacher who had been leading at the time (and so controlling the pace), and Schumacher apologised for it after the race.

After finishing fifth for the team in 2010, Button finished the 2011 season as runner-up to World Champion Sebastian Vettel. in 1989, aged nine, he came first in the British Super Prix. He won all 34 races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship, along with the title. At the end of 1998, he won the annual McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award.

Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE (but-?n; born 19 January 1980) is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. Following the withdrawal of Honda from the sport in December 2008, he was left without a drive for the 2009 season, until Ross Brawn led a management buyout of the team in February 2009, and Button suddenly found himself in a highly competitive, Mercedes-engined car. He failed his first driving test for getting too close to a parked vehicle. Button began karting at the age of eight, after his father bought him his first kart, and made an extraordinarily successful start. He won three times –at Thruxton, Pembrey and Silverstone–and finished the season as the top rookie driver, and third overall. Button was heavily hyped before his first race: former driver Gerhard Berger described him as a “phenomenon”; the head of his karting team, Paul Lemmens, compared him to Ayrton Senna; and Williams’ technical director Patrick Head said he was “remarkably mature and definitely a star of the future”. However some had misgivings about his lack of experience and ability to cope with the pressures of Formula One.

Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula Three Championship. Following the withdrawal of Honda from the sport in December 2008, he was left without a drive for the 2009 season, until Ross Brawn led a management buyout of the team in February 2009, and Button suddenly found himself in a highly competitive, Mercedes-engined car. He was named after his father’s friend Erling Jensen, changing the “e” to an “o” to differentiate it from Jensen Motors. He was educated at Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School and Frome Community College. He failed his first driving test for getting too close to a parked vehicle. in 1989, aged nine, he came first in the British Super Prix.

Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula Three Championship. Following the withdrawal of Honda from the sport in December 2008, he was left without a drive for the 2009 season, until Ross Brawn led a management buyout of the team in February 2009, and Button suddenly found himself in a highly competitive, Mercedes-engined car. Button was born on 19 January 1980 in Frome, Somerset and brought up in nearby Vobster. He was educated at Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School and Frome Community College. in 1989, aged nine, he came first in the British Super Prix.

They were subsequently renamed Honda for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, after 113 races. He was named after his father’s friend Erling Jensen, changing the “e” to an “o” to differentiate it from Jensen Motors. He is the fourth child of South African-born Simone Lyons and former Rallycross driver John Button, who was well known in the UK during the 1970s for his so-called Colorado Beetle Volkswagen. After his parents divorced when he was seven, he and his three elder sisters were brought up by their mother in Frome. 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. He won three times –at Thruxton, Pembrey and Silverstone–and finished the season as the top rookie driver, and third overall.

Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE (born 19 January 1980) is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers’ Champion. They were subsequently renamed Honda for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, after 113 races. Button began karting at the age of eight, after his father bought him his first kart, and made an extraordinarily successful start. He won all 34 races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship, along with the title.