Jenson Button: Finally in the Car to Give Him That British Win?

Ok, so you could argue that Jenson has already won his home Grand Prix…..in Monaco. However, he is yet to win the really special home race….the British Grand Prix. 

The 2009 British Grand Prix marks a number of Anniversaries for Brawn GP’s Jenson Button. It will have been twenty years since the young Briton first raced at Silverstone in Karts, a decade since his first race on the full grand prix circuit, and his tenth British GP as a driver in Formula One.

More significantly, this will be the first British race in his F1 career that Jenson has a strong chance to win. However, Jenson’s past British Grand Prix have produced a mix bag of results. So here's a quick re-cap of his ‘home’ GPs so far and an assessment of his chances of winning next weekend. 

It’s 2000, and whilst his future team mate qualified in an impressive pole (Rubens Barrichello), Jenson managed a surprising, yet thoroughly well deserved sixth. This was in a Williams and just behind the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher!

Thanks to a bit of luck, but a largely great start, Jens managed to get himself up to fifth from the start. 

A wheelnut problem cost Jens a fair bit of time in his first pit stop and rather spoiled his great start. 

After the retirement of poor old Rubens, and a second stop, Jens was up to sixth.  Jenson eventually finished his first British Grand Prix in a fantastic fifth place, just behind his team mate.

When asked what he thought of the ‘nightmare’ weekend caused by the weather and parking conditions in 2000, Jenson replied “I had a great race!”.

2001 was not a great year for Jenson at all. Now at Benetton-Renault, he may well have beaten future world champ, Alonso, but this wasn’t as great as it sounds as Fernando was only in sixteenth.

In fact, after the retirements of other drivers, Jenson finished his second British GP second to last! (P15). 

Whilst Rubens managed a great second place at one end of the grid in 2002, Jenson, in a Renault, had another dismal event. He finished twelfth, but if you take out the retirements, he actually finished dead last!  

In 2003, perhaps a crazy Irish priest invading the track gave Jenson the lucky charm he needed to break his Silverstone curse. However, more likely was the fact he was in a half decent car and a fair bit matured (though still with a fair way to go).  

Button, now in a BAR, finished in the points for the first time since 2000, and even beat his World Champion team mate, Jacques Villeneuve.

Now, 2004, was Honda and Jenson’s best season to date…well not including 2009 under their new name! Jens managed to qualify a very crowd pleasing third and managed to finish the race in a great fourth, though that podium had slipped from his reach! 

Jenson’s new Silverstone qualifying groove continued in 2005 when he yet again stuck his BAR on the third spot. However, an engine failure during Saturday free practice meant that Räikkönen’s McLaren was replaced in 12th which pushed Jens onto his first Silverstone front row! 

Jens started well and at one stage held off the faster McLaren of Räikkönen who only found a way past when Jenson had to pit. Jenson eventually finished in fifth which, when you consider where he started was rather disappointing.

However, he did finish ten places higher than his team mate and in front of Schumacher. In the end the Renaults and McLarens proved too fast for Jenson’s BAR.

Jens had a very poor qualifying run in 2006 and started the race 19th; and, unfortunately, after a few awesome first laps, the RA106’s engine caught fire on lap 9, due to an oil leak that caused the car to spin out of the race. 

The first Friday practice summed up Jenson’s 2007 season. Anthony Davidson outpaced the RA107 in the previous year's RA106, (painted in Super Aguri colours), by half a second. 

Jens had suffered a back injury in the United States Grand Prix, and decided not to take part in the second Friday practice session in order to avoid aggravating the injury.

Jens was eliminated in the first round of qualifying, whilst his team mate managed to qualify in fourteenth.

During the race both Honda drivers were taking advantage of being quite far back by investing in a one stop strategy. They finished ninth and tenth (Jens was tenth, ahead of both Super Aguris! PHEW!).

When you consider the dismal season that Jenson was having in 2007, to finish in the top ten at Silverstone was not too bad actually.

Arguably the 2008 Silverstone Grand Prix was Honda’s best race since Brazil 2006, with their first podium finish in over a year. However, yet another disappointing Saturday meant that neither driver made Q2.

After a disappointing qualifying session I don’t think any of the Honda Team expected what followed the next day. Both Jenson and Rubens pulled themselves up the grid.  On the damp track both RA108s lined up with wet tyres and by the end of the first lap Rubens had taken six places, Jenson five.  

A problem with the drivers' second fuel stop lost time but Rubens managed to fight his way up to second place after fitting extreme wets and even lapped faster than the wet weather specialist, Hamilton!

Perhaps Jenson would have been able to put in a similar performance if he hadn’t hit standing water on lap 38 that ended his race stuck in gravel (though he was struggling with oversteer.) 

Whilst the podium for Rubens was great, the Brazilian was very much racing for his career.  However, Jenson was criticised in the press as he seemed to be having a very poor season.

Well, on to 2009, and Jenson has won six out of seven races and heads to Silverstone as the clear favourite for the win. After his flawless performance last weekend  in Turkey, the odds look extremely favourable for Jens.  

Istanbul had high speed parts with a slow final section, which is almost exactly the same as Silverstone. Of course you have to take rain into consideration in Britain, but the Brawn isn’t exactly slow in the wet!

When asked whether Silverstone suited his driving style, Jens replied that he didn’t really know as the circuit is “different with every car I drive”.  

Well, this is true, but if you look at his performances in the decent cars, (2004 for example), he seems to cope very well.

When asked how much he would like to give his team a win, Jens replied “It’s going to be a very special race for them as well. It’s a home GP for all of us so it would be nice to get a result there in front of the crowd...winning a home GP and standing on the podium at your home race—is spectacular. It would be a very emotional moment.”

Having said that, it is very clear from Jenson that whilst that British win would be very special, he now has his eyes fixed on the bigger prize. With the maturity that Jenson is showing, Silverstone is another brick in the road to the Championship title.

Yes it will be special, yes he has the best chance of winning, but he also knows that to push for a win that might compromise his title hopes would be a mistake.

After the fantastic start to the season, and the phenomenal race last weekend, I sure hope that I can celebrate the sad event of the final Silverstone GP with a win for my favourite driver.  

Jenson has had a mixed Silverstone F1 career, but there is no doubt that next weekend will be his chance to shine...the ball is in your court Jenson...