Jenson Button captures Turkish Grand Prix

Brawn GP's Jenson Button overtook pole sitter Sebastian Vettel on the first lap Sunday following a mistake by the Red Bull driver and held on for a 6.7-second win over Red Bull's Mark Webber at the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul.

Jenson Button suffers qualifying blow

• Button to start from a season-low 14th, Lewis Hamilton 12th• Fisichella gives Force India their first Formula One poleJenson Button's Formula One world title hopes suffered a crushing blow in a bizarre qualifying session for tomorrow's Belgian grand prix. For the first time this year the championship leader failed to make it into the top-10 shootout, with the 29-year-old down in a season-low 14th.In a remarkable hour at the Spa circuit, Giancarlo Fisichella - the man being touted to replace the hapless Luca Badoer at Ferrari - gave Force India their first F1 pole, although it remains to be seen how much fuel is in the car. It is the veteran Italian's fourth pole of his career, and his first since Malaysia in 2006, with Toyota's Jarno Trulli second, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld third and Button's Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello fourth.Fisichella, whose previous best grid slot this year was 13th, was unable to explain his performance. "Pole position is amazing, fantastic," remarked the 36-year-old. "I'm so happy and thanks to the team who have done a great job. It's a remarkable result. I've shown what I can do. This is one of my favourite circuits, but I didn't expect to be on pole, in particular considering the budget of our team."Button offered a simple explanation for his poor display, conceding he "wasn't fast enough." He added: "It is pretty disastrous for tomorrow really. It's going to make it very difficult. I didn't have any pace on the soft tyres and every time I hit the brakes, the rear would move. I did not have any confidence in the rear end. It's strange to be four or five tenths [of a second] off Rubens. Our cars are different, but they are not that different."The 15-minute middle session was not just a disaster for Button, but also for Lewis Hamilton. The reigning world champion was unable to build on his victory in Hungary and pole at the European grand prix last weekend, qualifying down in 12th. His McLaren struggled in the twisty middle section of the track, whilst his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen fared worse and will start 15th, his second worst qualifying display this season. Renault's Fernando Alonso was another casualty in Q2 and was only 13th fastest.Luca Badoer, meanwhile, could be out of a job following tomorrow's race in the wake of another poor performance. The 38-year-old replacement for the recuperating Felipe Massa will again start at the back of the grid, as he did last weekend on his Ferrari debut in Valencia. Badoer ended the opening 20-minute Q1 by breaking the rear suspension of his car in careering backwards into a tyre wall after passing Sebastian Vettel on the approach to Les Combes. Renault's Romain Grosjean also struggled on his second outing, coming only one place better than Badoer in 19th.Leading grid positions after qualifying1 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1min 46.308secs, 2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:46.395, 3 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:46.500, 4 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:46.513, 5 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:46.586, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:46.633, 7 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:46.677, 8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:46.761, 9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:46.788, 10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:47.362, 11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:45.119, 12 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:45.122, 13 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:45.136, 14 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:45.251, 15 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:45.259, 16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:45.951, 17 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:46.032, 18 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:46.307, 19 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:46.359, 20 Luca Badoer (Ita) Ferrari 1:46.957Formula OneMotor sportJenson ButtonBrawnForce Indiaguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Jenson Button visits McLaren HQ

• World champion given a guided tour round McLaren HQ• Button would share equal billing with 2008 world championMcLaren have teed up Jenson Button to partner Lewis Hamilton in their 2010 Formula One line-up and the world champion could be close to turning his back on the Brawn team for whom he won this year's title. Button and his manager, Richard Goddard, today visited the McLaren headquarters at Woking, where they were given an escorted tour of the facilities by Martin Whitmarsh, the team principal. A contract could be signed as early as next week if terms can be finalised, creating the first team with two world champions competing alongside each other since Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were team-mates at McLaren in 1989."As I've said many times before, Jenson wants to drive a car which is capable of winning the next world championship," said Goddard. "We've been talking about possible terms for 2010 with Brawn for months and we're not being difficult or unreasonably expensive in our demands for Jenson. In fact we've given up quite a lot of negotiating ground in our discussions with them."McLaren have made Kimi Raikkonen their second choice if the Button approach fails, with Nick Heidfeld third favourite.Goddard made it clear that Button was not aiming for the £10m annual fee that drivers such as Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have under the terms of their existing agreements. But it is clear he wants more than the bargain-rate, reputed £4m deal he agreed with the emergent Brawn team before the start of last season to stay on the Formula One grid in a year when he was almost left kicking his heels in the pits with nothing to drive."I think it's also important that Jenson wants to feel valued in whatever situation he finds himself next season," Goddard added. "He needs to explore all the feasible options." A McLaren spokesman said: "Having just arrived at Heathrow, Jenson made a small detour to Woking to say hello."It is understood that Button has moved to the top of McLaren's wish-list over the past couple of months, with Whitmarsh and his fellow directors impressed by his tenacity in regaining his form to round off the season with two outstanding drives in the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi grands prix.However, Niki Lauda, who won the last of his three world championships with McLaren in 1984, and was paired there with Prost for two years, believes that Button would be best served in the long run by continuing to negotiate with Brawn. "One of the problems faced by drivers today is that there is generally less money around in the business than there was," he said. "So if I was Jenson, I would try to stay with Brawn even if Ross might pay him slightly less than McLaren. Of course, if McLaren are going to pay a lot more, then he must go."But the other thing he must consider is that it is Lewis's team and he needs to be sure he has the confidence to deal with this. It is a tough decision for Jenson and he needs to think it through carefully."McLaren also played host to Raikkonen on Wednesday when the 2007 world champion visited their base with his managers, David and Steve Robertson. The Robertsons – father and son – have an impressive reputation as negotiators, having not only secured Raikkonen an income of around £27m from Ferrari in 2008 but also cleverly inserted a clause in his contract whereby Ferrari were obliged to exercise their option to keep him in 2010 if he scored a certain number of championship points by the middle of 2008.That led to the current situation whereby Ferrari have chosen to pay off Raikkonen's contract for a figure believed to be between £15 and £17m to make room for Alonso. Raikkonen previously drove for McLaren from 2002-06.If Button should eventually join McLaren he would do so on equal footing to Hamilton as the team have always given absolute parity of equipment to their drivers and both would be permitted to race unfettered for grand prix wins and the world championship.Heidfeld, who was a McLaren test driver in the late 1990s, and the incumbent Heikki Kovalainen are also under consideration as potential candidates for the seat alongside Hamilton, although very much as outsiders.Formula OneJenson ButtonMcLarenBrawnAlan Henryguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Interlagos will be a pain in the neck for some drivers, says Jenson Button

Formula One championship leader believes not all drivers are fit enough to tackle the São Paulo circuitJenson Button today claimed that not all Formula One drivers are fit enough to tackle the São Paulo circuit, one of the most physically demanding on the calendar and host to the second-last race of a gruelling season. Interlagos, an undulating and bumpy track and one of just four on the calendar run in an anticlockwise direction, places high demands on a driver's neck muscles."I don't care what drivers say," said Button before taking part in today's practice sessions. "They think they're fit enough, but I don't think we are all fit enough to drive 100% every lap of this race. It's pretty tough physically at Interlagos even though there aren't many high-speed corners."Button's views on fitness were brought into perspective last week when he attended the Iron Man Triathlon in Hawaii. Button, who has taken part in the London triathlon, was impressed by the strength and resilience of elite competitors."Seeing the fitness, and also the pain they put themselves through, was inspirational," said Button. "It was the world championship; all the best people in the world. It was actually quite emotional, seeing what they go through to reach their goals. It's quite different to motor sport. When you get into the training side of the things which you need to do as a racing driver, you push yourself a little bit harder and know you're fit. But, physically, you really feel it round here. It's going to be quite a test for some drivers."Button was proved correct during morning practice when Vitantonio Liuzzi, short on Formula One race experience after being drafted into the Force India team four races ago, could be seen lolling his head to the right in left-hand corners after just 25 laps. Button, meanwhile, was dealing with brake problems and working on the handling of his Brawn while setting the seventh fastest time in the first 90-minute session. His championship rivals, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel, were second and third fastest behind the Red Bull of Mark Webber.Morning practice was interrupted by occasional light showers which made the track even more treacherous than usual. Barrichello spun without harm, Sébastien Buemi damaged his Toro Rosso after spinning backwards into a barrier and Renault's Romain Grosjean brought practice to a temporary halt when he ran wide and destroyed a polystyrene marker board. Further rain affected the latter stages of the afternoon session, in which Fernando Alonso set the fastest time ahead of Buemi in his repaired car, with Rubens Barrichello third and Button fifth.If Button finishes on the podium after 71 laps on Sunday, the Brawn driver will become world champion by scoring more points than his team-mate Barrichello and Vettel of Red Bull. Button rejects the claim that he ought to take the title in champion style by winning the race at any price."Winning it like a champion is winning the championship," said Button. "Driving like a champion in this race would be to finish within a certain amount of points of my two title rivals. My intention is to win the race, as it always is. But winning the championship is about getting more points than anyone else over 17 races. Driving like a race winner is winning the race. I've won more races than anyone; no one can win more races this year. But the championship is what it's all about."Button won six of the first seven races but has not reached the top of the podium since the Turkish grand prix on 7 June. "I've not really lost any points since the Monaco grand prix [on 24 May]," he said . "You can say that people have done a better job than me from Monaco to now but when you look at the points, no one has really caught me in the championship and my lead has always been pretty much the same. Speak to any of the champions in the past; it's never a walk in the park unless you've got a much more superior car, like Michael Schumacher's Ferrari in 2004. But if you look back at the start of the season, the Red Bulls were just as competitive as us in Bahrain, Barcelona and a few other races, but we did a better job each time."Jenson ButtonFormula OneMotor sportMaurice Hamiltonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

'I want to win. It's all about me winning'

Dismissed as a playboy who lacked the killer instinct, Jenson Button looked set to remain a formula one also-ran, but he always knew he was fastWe're on the main road in Monte Carlo just before it is closed to the public and turned into Monaco's famous grand prix track. Jenson Button is driving frustratingly slowly in his adopted home. The pace, or lack of it, is making me twitch. Get a move on, Jenson, this is pathetic. "Traffic. It's not normally this bad," he says apologetically. Whatever. I feel safe - possibly too safe. It could be an elderly uncle driving. Put your foot down, son, go for it. He's looking in the rear-view mirror, tutting at the opposition on the road. "People are very relaxed when they drive - they don't concentrate enough. You can see they're not paying attention and their peripheral vision is not there. It is scary. Driving on the road is probably more dangerous than driving on a circuit."What! No, really, he means it. Formula one is so much safer than it used to be, he insists. On the weekend that Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at the 1994 San Marino grand prix, Button was a 14-year-old boy go-karting in Italy. "The race just stopped. Everybody was glued to the television. It was horrible." Didn't it put him off racing? "No. But a lot's changed since then. The accident Ayrton had was not really a big impact accident. If you had that these days you'd be fine." Maybe.Button has had one bad crash - as he came out of the tunnel here in Monaco in 2003. People marvelled that it was possible to crash at such speed and survive virtually unscathed. Did he think he was a goner? "I didn't have time to think. I could hear tyres screeching when I hit the first wall, then I was unconscious. I woke up and saw all the people in orange around me. I thought, where am I? Why is everyone wearing orange? They started cutting off my suit and sticking needles in me. The main doctor came over and said, 'Jenson, are you OK?' and I said, 'Well, not really, my legs hurt.' Which one? I go, the left one, then I go, no, the right one, then I say, no, everything. Then I start laughing. It was the most surreal feeling, it must have been what they were pumping into me. It was good because you realise you can walk away after an accident at 180 miles per hour."We've come to a stop - traffic jam. There is just one car moving behind us, determined to get into a right-hand lane that doesn't exist. Button looks in the mirror disapprovingly, then grins. "That's my dad behind us." He points to the Honda doing a risky jig. "Or is it? Yeah it is. He's going to get into trouble if there's a policeman here."At 20 years old, Button was the envy of formula one. He had everything - talent, youth (he was F1's youngest driver), looks, easy charm and a name fit for an action hero. There was one problem. He couldn't win a race. He made a promising start, finishing eighth in his first season in 2000, and rising up the ranks to third by 2004. It only seemed a matter of time. But still he couldn't clinch that victory. It wasn't until 2006, 113 races on, that he managed one. This was expected to be the turning point. But it wasn't. For three more years he toiled without triumph. His car became more and more uncompetitive, he appeared to lose confidence, nobody even talked about him any more once Lewis Hamilton, the new British uber-racer, emerged fully formed. Who cared about Jenson Button? He was just another also-ran - the perennial underachiever with the aspirational name. The former boy wonder finished 15th in 2007, and 18th last year as Hamilton won the world championship.In December 2008, things reached a nadir when his cash-strapped Honda team announced it was quitting formula one. If nobody bought Honda, he would be left without a team. And why would any other team be keen to sign up a serial loser? Fast-forward five months. Button is now not only racing, he is destroying the opposition. A few days after we meet he wins his fifth race in six outings this season - a record equalled by only a handful of drivers. Formula one's Nearly Man became the Nowhere Man. Now he's simply The Man. It's a remarkable turnaround. He's 29 now, six foot tall, casually dressed, with unpruned facial hair which never quite makes the full beard. There is not an ounce of fat on him, and he's smiling. Button has always smiled. The experts and cod-psychologists suggested that was his flaw - too easy-going, lacked the killer instinct."It would make an amazing film, wouldn't it?" he says of his recent success. "You wouldn't need to add the Hollywood bits in. They are already there." There is something so boyish, so guileless about Button. I've barely met him, and I'm already telling him to make sure he doesn't screw up from this position. "I know! I know!"But there is an intensity beneath the smile. Button is aware that six months ago it was more likely he'd be heading for the jobcentre than the chequered flag. We're now sitting on the terrace cafe of a salubrious Monaco hotel looking over the mountains. Every few seconds the latest Porsche or Ferrari whizzes past. Monaco is the home of fast cars, playboys and pretty girls. It smells of petrol, perfume and privilege. It's where grand prix drivers come to chill out and avoid tax. Despite another disastrous season (in the final race the car caught fire), Button was feeling optimistic at the end of last year. After producing increasingly useless racing cars, in 2007 Honda hired the legendary designer Ross Brawn, who helped Michael Schumacher to five successive F1 world titles. Brawn was already uniting a divided team, and Honda was finally building a car that could compete. In the close season Button got himself fitter than ever, bonded with his colleagues and talked up the future. Then he got the phone call. "I'd just got off a plane and it was my manager saying, 'Just to let you know, Jenson, we've got a bit of bad news - Honda have pulled out of formula one.' I didn't believe him at first. Then you get that tingle down your spine. I was just silent on the other end of the phone. He said, 'Sorry, I didn't know another way of telling you.' I was sat at Gatwick, waiting for my bags for about an hour, and I thought, what am I going to do?" Did he think that was the end of his career? "Yeah, I did," he says baldly. Button wasn't the only one facing the dole. There were 700 workers on the Honda F1 team. He decided that the most important thing was to get to the factory, show solidarity and boost morale. "So I started speaking to the engineers in the room and I got a bit emotional ... A bit embarrassing in front of 100 men. And the voice goes ... And they're looking at me, and I'm saying, I came here to try to keep everyone positive but I'm finding it difficult myself. And they said, well, Jenson, obviously it's an emotional time, but we're staying positive, and as soon as you leave this room we're going to get back to work, and we know that nobody will be interested in buying this team or putting money into it unless we can prove to them that we're working our arses off. And it was like, I came here to help you guys out and you've helped me out more than I've helped you." He looks embarrassed even thinking about it. In a bid to save Honda, Button insisted on a 50% wage cut (you needn't feel sorry for him - even now he is paid £4m a year). Still no bidders.On 5 March 2009, only three weeks before the season started and with Button and team-mate Rubens Barrichello resigned to a spell on the sidelines at best, Ross Brawn announced he had raised the capital to buy out Honda F1. The team was reborn as Brawn GP, backed by Richard Branson. On 29 March, Button won the first grand prix of the season in Australia, and Barrichello finished second, in the new Brawn GP cars. World champion Hamilton qualified only in 18th and was eventually disqualified, and it was apparent that the McLaren car, which had seen off all comers a few months before, was now a no-hoper. Within a single race, formula one had been turned on its head.After all the criticism, Button must have felt vindicated. He sips his tea and shakes his head. No, he always knew he was fast. But so many people had written him off. I start to throw some of the insults in his face. In 2007 former formula one champion Nigel Mansell said he lacked the hunger and partied too much. "Jenson had the opportunity and didn't take it; there won't be any more," he concluded. I'm trying to goad Button, but he's still smiling. "I don't need to say anything, do I?" When he won his fourth race of the season in Barcelona, Button raised four triumphant fingers, almost in disbelief. Will he raise another digit for every race he wins? "Hopefully. That's the plan." What if he runs out of fingers? "Well, I've got an 11th finger, haven't I?" He grins suggestively and you remember how phallocentric the world of formula one is. But laddishness doesn't come naturally to him. He sounds more like a teenager who knows he's pushed the boundaries.Button, who grew up in Frome, Somerset, was named after the Jensen car. His father, John, was a successful rallycross driver and secondhand car salesman, his mother, Simone, a housewife. His parents divorced when he was seven, and for him it was a blessing. For one thing, he was no longer caught in the crossfire of their arguments, and secondly it meant two sets of Christmas presents. Who bought the better presents? "Well, Dad bought me a go-kart," he replies instantly. Was he a spoilt boy? He thinks about it. Well, yes, his three older sisters spoiled him, but he wasn't really spoilt. It was more that he was easily bored. He tells me the story of the go-kart by way of example. "My dad bought me the kart just before my eighth birthday and I drove it out of his place down the road and into a pub car park - and I drove round the pub car park in a few circles. Nobody was there because it was Christmas Day, and I got out and said, 'Dad, this is lovely, I'm bored, can we go somewhere else?' So we jumped in the car and shot down to an old disused runway half an hour from the house and I drove round there for a while." How fast? "As fast as the thing would go ... 40/50mph."Did it feel dangerous? He looks at me as if I'm batty. "Eight years old - no, I don't think so! So I drive round this runway for a while and get bored and I say to Dad, 'I need some more excitement', so he took me to a circuit called Clay Pigeon in Yeovil. And I drove round there and I was like, 'Dad, this is great fun and everything, but there's something missing.' And he's like [he does an impression of his father exhaling with resignation], 'I'll have to put him into a race' and he did a couple of weeks later. I crossed the line first and it was like, 'Dad, this is amazing, I'm not bored now, this is what I love. This is the bit that was missing - the competitiveness.' "After that he didn't have much time for school. He took one GCSE, in French, because he was too busy karting to bother with the rest. At 11, he won all 34 races in the 1991 British Open Kart Championship. At 17, he became the youngest winner of the European Super A Championship. By 18, he had moved into cars and won the British Formula Ford Championship. After one season in formula three, in which he finished third, he progressed to formula one, the highest form of auto racing with speeds of up to 220mph and engines revving up to 18,000rpm.John Button followed Jenson out to Monaco to keep him company. He's close to all his family, and says they've kept him sane in a stressful business. He looks at me. "Nobody believes me when I say it's stressful." He reckons outsiders think that the life of an F1 driver is dossing, nightclubs and the occasional drive, but he's out there training most of the time. "Do you know why we have to be so fit?" He doesn't let me answer. "So we can get the ladies." Button grins, enjoying his little joke. His resting heart rate is in the 40s (the average is 70bpm) and rises to 140-150bpm when he's driving. No other sport puts such stress on the heart - many top drivers average 180bpm through a race and can hit 200bpm when coming into a heavy-braking corner - and it would kill most of us. "I'm a little more relaxed than some drivers." Driving also places enormous stress on the neck muscles because of the gravitational pull when turning corners. Today, he looks perfectly proportioned except for a neck that could belong to the Incredible Hulk. "It's a bit of a freaky neck. I have to buy bigger shirts in the season."Of all the stressful times, the worst was probably karting as a child. It wasn't the boys he was racing against who caused the problems, it was their fathers. "Karting dads were a nightmare because they think their kids are the new superstar, and if another kid beats them they're obviously cheating. Ach, it's unbelievable." Fights would often break out mid-race on the sidelines. So what was your father like? "My dad was pretty calm, actually. He wasn't pushy ... " He pauses. "I was winning." And if you hadn't been? "I don't know. He is quite a calm person. He never pushed me, which is good."A couple of years ago Button took up the triathlon - a hugely demanding endurance event featuring swimming, cycling and running races. He had begun to doubt whether he really was a sportsman. "I went into triathlons when things weren't going very well. It was tough at the weekends, not achieving on the circuit. So doing the training and racing in triathlons was something to enjoy and to know it was all down to me, it's not down to the bike or the goggles."It can't have helped that Lewis Hamilton became the formula one poster boy. He looks me in the eye. But it did, he says, you wouldn't believe how much it helped. At last people didn't care about him. "It was a great relief because we didn't get any media. Everybody concentrated on Lewis. We didn't have to deal with the press saying bad things because they weren't interested." But you must have been jealous? He nods. "You would be of any world champion. If I had a brother and he was winning, I would hate it because I want to win. It's all about me winning." Perhaps the past few years have been toughest on his father. While Jenson found a new way of focusing his energy, John Button was left to brood on his son's failure. "He lives on his own here in Monaco, and he'd arrive home and get very depressed. Every second of the day it would be running through his mind, whereas I could switch off and I had other things to do."Button is having his picture taken, high in the hills at Monaco's botanical garden, Jardin Exotique. From here, we can look over the whole principality. Does he live here for tax reasons? He points to the sea and the mountains, and says who wouldn't want to live here. I'm not so sure.Do all the drivers live here? "A lot live in Switzerland now. The people I see most here are Nico [Rosberg] and Felipe [Massa], and a lot of drivers who were in F1." When they see each other down the supermarket, do they ... He finishes the sentence off for me. "Race?" He bursts out laughing. "Brrrum brrrum," and he starts revving up his invisible trolley. "If I saw another driver in the supermarket and they weren't with their girlfriend or kids - cos that would be a bit embarrassing - I probably would give it the old brrrum brrrum. Yeah, I'm going to go every day now and hopefully see someone."We're back in the car, heading for the tunnel that almost did for him. What makes him such a good driver? "I'm precise with everything, gentle with everything. The more gradual and gentle you are with a racing car, the more precise you are, so you hit the targets and look after the car much better. If you're more aggressive, you damage the tyres, you damage the engine more, you use more fuel, you tire yourself out more, you tire the brakes out more."He struggles into a space in the cleanest car park in the world. A siren warns him that he's about to hit the back wall. "Never been able to reverse," he says. Button failed his driving test first time round. "They said that I went through a gap that wasn't there. The woman coming the other way mounted the curve cos she didn't think she could fit through, but there was an inch either side of the wing mirror." He'd been driving 10 years at this point. Yes, he says, of course his friends took the mick. We pass a yellow Opal GT. He gives it an admiring glance. "Nice."Over the years, Button has taken a fair battering from his peers. His team-mate Jacques Villeneuve said he was better suited to a boyband than F1. In 2001, after he qualified 17th on the grid at Monaco, his new team boss at Renault, Flavio Briatore, asked him if it was true he was looking for a place to buy in Monte Carlo. When Button said yes, he remarked, "Well, would you mind not looking around during qualifying." It was a comment that still stings. "It might be funny and it might be clever, but for someone within your team to say that ... It doesn't do much for your confidence. And every interview after you're asked the same question. Or told the same - you're a playboy." And was he? "I don't think playboy is the right word. In 2000 I bought a boat and a Ferrari, and I think I did get excited by being an F1 driver." He looks sheepish. "I was 20 years old, you know, and the people looking after me were like, come on, you need to look like a formula one driver, you need to feel like a formula one driver." But he knows he can't just blame others. "I took my eye off the ball." There was certainly a time when his girlfriends attracted more attention than his driving. He was engaged to Fame Academy starlet Louise Griffiths, and his friendships with athlete Emma Davis and It Girl Beverley Bloom were fodder for the gossip columns. The thing is, he insists, all this was the exuberance of youth, way back when, and throughout the long years when things were going so horribly wrong, he was doing everything right. He insists nothing has changed. He is driving no better than in recent seasons, he is working no harder. Sure, he's never been fitter, but he was super fit anyway. Look, I say, baffled, I don't get it - how can Lewis Hamilton be so brilliant one year and so shit the next, and the opposite happen to you. "Shit!" He giggles. Has Hamilton become a rubbish driver overnight? "No, I think Lewis is driving well, and I actually think he has been driving better this year than some of last year." That doesn't make sense, I say. "I know - it's the situation I've been in for years." So does that mean it's all down to the car? No, he says patiently. But it's a hell of a lot to do with it, and this year's rule changes (to do with tyres, engine, aerodynamic downforce and any number of things I don't understand) meant the F1 teams had to start all over again, so the ones in the lead lost their advantage. He gives me a brief history of F1. In the days of James Hunt and Niki Lauda, then Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, there were only a few genuine contenders. Many of the drivers were making up the numbers. "Some paid to be there." Nowadays Button reckons most of them could win the championship with the right car and team. "Now nobody pays to race, and you're qualifying on pole by half a tenth of a second." He thinks the rival Red Bull car this year is faster than the Brawn. But even if you did have a vastly superior car, you still have to beat your team-mate - which he has done consistently this year.Surely formula one would make more sense if all the drivers drove the same car? Then we'd really know who was best. "Well, the sport wouldn't exist," he says. Why not? "Because you wouldn't have any manufacturers involved." Ah, money - always at the heart of F1. But wouldn't he enjoy it as a sportsman if they all started on a level footing? "Yeah, I would. Yeah. It would be enjoyable. And a lot of us have been in that form of racing before. People would find it fun, but that's not what formula one is. It's not an individual sport, it is a team sport. That's why we have the constructors' championship as well as the drivers' championship." It's such a paradoxical beast, F1 - the most individualistic of sports wholly reliant on hundreds of anonymous mechanics; the ultimate form of racing where it is often impossible to overtake and the winner is predetermined on the practice laps. No wonder Button likes the simple escapism of the triathlon.I notice a tiny tattoo on his arm. Is that a wheel? He laughs. "No, it's a button." Has he got a Jensen car on the other arm? "No, I've got Jenson. That's down here in Japanese." He lifts his T-shirt to show off the elegant calligraphy on his stomach. "My girlfriend did it. She did the writing, and they transferred it on." Is it correctly spelt? "She's Japanese, mate, she pays attention to detail." He corrects himself. "Half-Japanese, half-Argentine - everything is Japanese, except the bottom which is Argentine. The attitude is Japanese. She's very calm, very respectful, but also has a stong personality." Jessica Michibata is a model (of course) and writes a monthly column on cinema in the Japanese press. They started going out in December, and he is clearly besotted with her. When he's not on the phone to her (she is poorly, and he's applying long-distance TLC in great dollops), he can't stop talking about her. "I love all things Japanese - especially my girlfriend." We're driving past Casino Square and more Porsches and Ferraris ("Nice place to park, mate. Really good! Really good!!") and he's thinking of the future. He definitely wants children. "I need kids. I need to tell my kids I won races in formula one. Who else am I going to tell?" Would he encourage them to go into racing? "Definitely not. Too stressful."After nine years of struggle, has it sunk in just what he's achieved in three short months? Well, he says, he has to win the world championship before he can regard it as an achievement, but yes. "Winning is a lot more sweet when it's been difficult before, that's for sure. When I get into that car, I smile every time I close my helmet."• Jenson Button is racing in the Turkish grand prix tomorrow.Jenson ButtonBrawnFormula oneMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Jenson Button wins world title

• Briton seals championship after steady drive to fifth position• Pole-sitter and team-mate Barrichello suffers bad luckJenson Button has secured his maiden Formula One world championship for Brawn GP in the penultimate race of the season as Red Bull's Mark Webber won the Brazilian Grand Prix.Button took fifth place as his team-mate and rival Rubens Barrichello finished eighth and Sebastian Vettel - the only other driver capable of winning the crown - finished in fourth position."It's really amazing," said Button. "That was just such an awesome race - I deserve the title after that race! 21 years ago I jumped in a car and I loved winning. I never expected to be world champion in Formula One but I've done it today."Team boss Ross Brawn, who also watched the outfit secure the constructors' title in its first season, said: "Jenson's a fantastic racer and he knew what he had to do today. He deserves everything he's got."Webber, who had been running second in the early stages, took the lead after his first stop and did not relinquish it as the Red Bull proved the quickest car around Interlagos. Barrichello's grip on the race was loosened when he lost places after his first stop, crucially to BMW's Robert Kubica, who finished second. The Brazilian, who had started from pole position, lost third place with ten laps to go as a storming Lewis Hamilton - who started from 18th place after a disaster in the rain-hit qualifying session - benefitted from an early safety car period. Barrichello then suffered further disappointment with a puncture in the dying laps, being forced to pit and rejoin in eighth.Button had also benefitted from the safety car to make up places early on, showing his determination with a great move to pass Renault's Romain Grosjean after which he also picked off Williams' Kazuki Nakajima. Button pitted for the first time on lap 29, a clean stop bringing him out in tenth with two cars ahead still to pit. A fantastic move on Sebastien Buemi a few laps later, outbraking him into turn one, brought Button seventh place. Barrichello, lying fourth, had all the work to do but his race unravelled and he was unable to keep his title hopes alive.Vettel had done his best to stay in the hunt by taking a very long first stint and would be satisfied with his fourth place, even though Button's finishing position meant the title was out of his grasp. Given Barrichello's bad luck, it meant the Red Bull driver overtook him for second in the standings with a race to go.The opening laps of the grand prix were filled with incident as first an off-track fight almost erupted between Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil. Replays appeared to show Force India's Sutil forcing Trulli wide onto the grass, causing the Toyota to lose control and slide off into the barriers, tagging Sutil along the way. Sutil also ended up in the gravel trap and had to face a fuming Trulli in a discussion that almost became physical.A lap later Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was caught in a flash fire in the pit lane. The Finn had pitted to receive a new nose cone after tagging the back of Red Bull's Mark Webber. Ahead of him, earlier spinner Heikki Kovalainen was leaving the pits but with the fuel hose still attached to his McLaren. Fuel sprayed over the hot Ferrari, which was briefly engulfed in flames, although Raikkonen was unhurt and carried on.Final points standings:Jenson Button, 89Sebastian Vettel, 74Rubens Barrichello, 72Formula OneMotor sportJenson ButtonBrawnGemma Briggsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds