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By: Alan Henry .
In 2009, Jenson Button achieved his lifetime's ambition of becoming Formula 1 Drivers' World Champion, playing the starring role in one of the most remarkable success stories in Formula 1 history, as the Brawn GP team clinched both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships in its debut season.
The foundations for Jenson's future were laid with a successful boyhood karting career, before he moved into car racing. In a remarkable first season in Formula Ford, he won the 1998 British Championship, took victory at the Brands Hatch Formula Ford Festival, finished runner-up in the European Formula Ford Championship, and lifted the BRDC McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year award.
After a year in the British Formula 3 Championship, Jenson's Formula 1 baptism came with the Williams team in 2000, aged just 20. At the end of an impressive debut season, he transferred to the Benetton team for 2001, rebranded as Renault for 2002, before moving to BAR-Honda for 2003. After a difficult first season with the team, Jenson fought for podium finishes in 2004, ending the season third in the World Championship as the strongest challenger to the dominant Ferraris. The ups and downs of the next few seasons, as the BAR team metamorphosed into the Honda works team, ranged from the elation of his debut win in Hungary in 2006, to the disastrous 2007 and 2008 seasons, which brought him only nine points in two years.
At last, however, Jenson has taken his place in motorsport's hall of fame as the 2009 World Champion after a rollercoaster season, from his debut win for Brawn GP in Australia and his run of six wins from seven races, through the fallow mid-season period, to his championship-winning drive at the Brazilian Grand Prix and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
This extensively illustrated biography is written by highly respected Formula 1 journalist Alan Henry, who has been reporting on Grand Prix racing since 1973. He is Editor of Autocourse and Grand Prix Editor of Autocar, and his several dozen books include the recently published Stirling Moss: All My Races.
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