Jenson Button has called time on a long racing career, the highlight of which of course was the 2009 Formula 1 world championship with Brawn.
A superb driver, and winner of 15 grands prix between 2006-12, he is not recalled as one of the greats. But he had greatness within him. There were days – several of them – when he was the best out there. There were some amazing peaks of virtuosity, but they were just not connected up in the way of the true greats. But on his best days, in the right circumstances, he was capable of beating any of them.
He was widely considered a phenomenon in his karting career. Many in that world at the time reckoned him the best they'd seen since Ayrton Senna. That status never quite translated into his car racing career despite the success.
Although he won the title and the Festival in Formula Ford 1998, his first season of racing cars, the momentum was lost the following year by the lack of a proper Formula 3 budget. Which meant he competed with an underpowered Renault engine when you really needed a Mugen-Honda or a Spiess-Opel. The terms on offer from the Renault-subsidised Serge Saulnier-run Promatecme team at least made it possible to contest the series.
He won a few races and finished third in the championship but without big backers and in the age before manufacturer junior driver programmes, the way forward wasn't obvious.
But Saulnier, an ex-racer and F3 contemporary of Alain Prost, talked to Prost about just how impressed he was by Button's talent. Which led to a test at Barcelona in the Prost F1 car. The 19-year-old rookie was quite sensational that day and lapped 0.6s faster than the team's regular driver, the highly-rated Jean Alesi. From nowhere, Button was suddenly on the F1 radar.
This coincided with Frank Williams – always a sucker for an exciting new talent – looking for a replacement for Alex Zanardi, who'd suffered a disappointing 1999 season with the team and had been released. Button famously won a shoot-out for the drive with Williams' test driver Bruno Junqueira and made his debut in Melbourne in 2000.
In truth, he wasn't really experienced enough, either in the car or out of it. But when the opportunity presented itself, it had to be taken. A lover of life, Button enjoyed everything that being an F1 star could offer him and there was probably some truth in Flavio Briatore's later assessment of him as ‘a bit of a playboy'. That, being dropped by Williams to make way for Juan Pablo Montoya in 2001 (he'd been signed before Button) – and an indifferent sophomore season driving for Briatore's Benetton-Renault team damaged his previously sparkling reputation. Perception is all and suddenly he wasn't the next world champion, merely a good driver.
That perception stayed even when Button won the title. But it was far too simplistic an assessment for a driver whose heights compared with the best of anyone's.
He felt the car differently to others. He was all about smoothness and feel and was incredibly sensitive to grip. In the right circumstances – changeable conditions from one lap to the next – it made him utterly sensational, better than anyone else. But that same sensitivity perhaps also played its part in his difficulties with rear instability in normal high-grip situations.
Some little snapshots of his F1 career tell you that he was capable of performances which would have been beyond the reach of the sort of drivers he is commonly mentioned with, the good but not greats.
US GP 2000
The race started on a wet but drying track, everyone on intermediates. A few laps into the race Button had a coming-together with Jarno Trulli's Jordan, damaging his front wing. He pitted for a new nose and the team fitted him with slicks.
Within a couple of laps his speed on the slicks brought about three-quarters of the field in to be rid of their inters. Yet it would be another eight laps before they could get their slicks to be competitive. Button's amazing gift in these sorts of conditions had fooled everyone into believing the track was quicker than it was.
Imola qualifying 2004
His first pole lap. The BAR-Honda was pretty good – but not that good. It was a quite sensational lap, one which was recognised as such by the man he beat to the pole, Michael Schumacher. It was 1s faster than Button's team-mate, Takuma Sato, who was no slouch.
Spanish Grand Prix 2009
The way the gaps in the traffic played out, Button became trapped in a two-stop strategy rather than the planned faster three-stop. Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello was able to remain on the three-stop, which should really have handed him the win. Except Button made the two-stop work with a sensational middle stint.
On old tyres the car was considerably slower but Button untypically took it by the scruff of the neck to maintain an amazing pace, such that he was still ahead after Barrichello made his third stop.
Chinese Grand Prix 2010
Button's move as the reigning world champion into Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team was a brave one. But he'd won second time out, in Australia, partly through making all the right calls in a tricky wet/dry race and having great pace in the changeable conditions.
Two races later, in China, he did it again but this time triumphed after a straight gloves-off duel with Hamilton of wet weather driving. As in Australia, Button had made the crucial calls from the cockpit – and had stayed out on slicks as others, including Hamilton, pitted for inters only then to have the track dry out and be forced to stop again.
This gave Button a big advantage which he kept through the various phases of the race and weather but a safety car wiped that away. Meaning that for the final part of the race, it was Button vs Hamilton on the same age intermediate tyres in wet conditions. Button prevailed.
Canadian Grand Prix 2011
With 60% of the race done, Button was last by a long way after a wild sequence of incidents. Incredibly, with his amazing pace in the changeable conditions he caught and passed the pack until on the final lap he was on the tail of race leader Sebastian Vettel. When the Red Bull twitched out of line through the Turn 7-8 chicane, Button was through to one of the most amazing victories of all time.
Brazilian Grand Prix 2012
Button's final grand prix victory came only after Nico Hulkenberg had crashed into Hamilton ahead of him but it was in the opening phase of the race, with light rain falling but everyone on slicks, that Button produced his magic.
McLaren team-mate Hamilton had led from pole but Button was all over him, just more at ease in these changeable conditions and on the sixth lap he pounced, overtook and pulled away.
Austria qualifying 2016
Button's final two seasons with the underpowered Mclaren-Honda were enlivened only by his match races with team-mate Fernando Alonso. There was very little in it between them. But in the wet qualifying of Austria, Button starred.
The first runs were made on inters and in one of the least competitive cars in the field, Button was second only to Hamilton's Mercedes. After the switch to slicks he was bumped down to fifth – still a massive over-performance - and moved back up to third when others took grid penalties.
So let's salute a worthy world champion who on his best days, when the weather was murky, could make the field look pedestrian.
