Two years earlier the 20 year-old from Frome in Somerset had been about to embark on his first season of Formula Ford after a glittering career in karting. Now he made the front pages of half the British national daily newspapers.

Button's father, John, raced with distinction in rallycross in the Seventies (against Alexander Wurz's father Franz), and then began entering his eight year-old son in Cadet kart races. Jenson began winning almost immediately, and took the British Champio The switch to cars brought immediate success with Haywood Racing's Mygale in 1998, as Button swept to the British Championship. His domination pushed him into Formula Three by 1999, where he won two races and finished third and best-placed rookie in the B An extraordinarily mature and composed young driver, Button combined fearsome speed with smoothness and aggression. His first taste of F1 came courtesy of McLaren late in 1999, as his prize for winning the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver A Williams was unable to keep Button in 2001 and so he transferred to Benetton on a two-year deal, staying on in 2002 when the team became Renault 1.