Lando Norris is now a Formula 1 race winner, but he is not the only driver who had to wait a long time for their first big hit. F1's history is filled with stories of drivers who had to work really hard for their long awaited first victory. In this episode: 2009 world champion Jenson Button.
It’s hard to imagine nowadays given that he’s such a widely beloved personality, but Jenson Button wasn’t all that popular in the early days of his F1 career. He was a bit of a playboy when he entered the sport in 2000, someone who seems to enjoy the fame more than the commitment. He even almost missed his chance to get into F1 when his management declined offers from Prost, McLaren and Jaguar, and Button himself turned down an offer from Williams because he thought team founder Frank Williams was just joking around.
It also didn’t help that during those first few years, Button just wasn’t very good. He had some decent results here and there, but overall his races were marred by inconsistency and rookie mistakes. Flavio Briatore, who was his team principal in 2001 and 2002, called Button a “lazy playboy” and said: “He either becomes super good, or he’s out”.
| Jenson Button | |
|---|---|
| Year of first win | 2006 |
| Races before first win | 113 |
| Podiums before first win | 13 |
Briatore would put his money where his mouth was and kick Button out in favor of Fernando Alonso midway through 2002, forcing Button to go to BAR. Things weren’t much different there. His teammate Jacques Villeneuve remarked that Button would be better suited for a boyband than Formula 1.
However by 2004, Button had turned things around completely. He had kicked out his bad management, he had become much more in touch with the team and the engineers, his lifestyle had shifted, he was more focused and the results on track would improve because of it. Button would score his first podium of his career in the second race of 2004, with nine more podiums to follow later in the year. Talk suddenly shifted away from him being “a lazy playboy” to him being world champion material. By the end of 2005, Button would be the driver with the most career podiums (12) without winning a race.
Button's 2006 Honda RA106.
The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
That brings us to the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2006. Round 13 of 18. The season is utterly dominated by the title battle between Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Renault). Alonso’s teammate Giancarlo Fisichella won one race, and every other race so far had been won by either Schumacher or Alonso. Button managed to score another podium for his team, which by now had been bought up by and rebranded to Honda.
Button qualified reasonably well, getting in 4th place. However, he would be set back to 14th because of an engine penalty. Schumacher and Alonso would join him down below because of various penalties they had received. Starting from pole was McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finally saw an opportunity to win with the two title challengers away from the front. By the end of lap 1 though, Schumacher and Alonso had already climbed up to fourth and sixth.
They began to squabble, taking a few more spots in the process, but delaying each other. This not only allowed Raikkonen to extend his lead, but also gave Button the opportunity to catch up. By lap 6, Button had overtaken Schumacher for fourth place. The Briton began to chase after the race leaders, as Schumacher was struggling more and more with the treacherous conditions. As the rain began coming down harder and harder, Schumacher fell into the clutches of Fisichella. The battle between the two was fierce… a little too fierce, as Schumacher turned into Fisichella and broke off his own front wing. By the time he got out of the pits, he would be lapped by Alonso, who had taken the lead thanks to a pitstop by Raikkonen.
Rainy conditions take out the frontrunners
The rain was coming down harder and harder, making the track as treacherous as could be. Button was thriving in this, having learned to master these conditions growing up in British karting, but the rest of the field wasn’t having as much fun. Four drivers had already spun off, including Fisichella and Rosberg, and on lap 25 another big name would be claimed. Raikkonen lost control in the slippery corners, crashing into backmarker Vitantonio Liuzzi, taking both of them out of the race. The resulting Safety Car and pitstops allowed Button to climb up to second place, right behind Alonso. The two would duel for most of the race, with Button having to make an inconvenient pitstop for fuel and Alonso taking a chance on dry tyres rather than intermediates. Those dry tyres of Alonso were a godsend for Button: the right rear wasn’t mounted properly, and when Alonso came out of the pitlane again his wheel nut parted ways with the car, sending Alonso spinning off the track and into the barriers. Button had a massive lead over the rest and with his main rival now out of the race, it seemed like it was his race to lose.
And yet he couldn’t take it easy just yet, because Michael Schumacher still had some tricks up his sleeve. By staying on the intermediates, he had managed to get back into second place and get closer to Button every lap. But this race had already proven to be vindictive for the title challengers, and it wasn’t done with Schumacher yet. The grip on his tyres began to wear away and the other drivers started catching up to him in the final laps. In an attempt to hold position, Schumacher made some controversial moves. By which I mean that he cut the chicane not once, but twice. With three laps left to go, Schumacher made another desperate attempt to defend, but in doing so he made contact with Nick Heidfeld, which broke his suspension and took Schumacher out of the race as well.
It left Button completely unchallenged, and after 70 laps he crossed the finish line to become Formula 1’s newest race winner. He had gotten 13 podiums already and had 113 race starts to his name before finally getting his maiden win. It would turn out to also be the only victory that year by a driver not from Renault or Ferrari. Button would of course go on to win much more, including the title in 2009 with Honda’s successor Brawn GP. His final victory would come with McLaren in the 2012 season finale, taking the top step for the 15th time.
Jenson Button after his first win.