Top 5 races of Jenson Button

Jenson Button, highly rated on his debut in 2000, had to endure several tough seasons with teams like Williams, Benetton, Renault, BAR and Honda wherein he did get success, but still the world title eluded him. In 2009, it was finally with Brawn that hegot his hands on the long awaited world title. This was followed by a risky move to partner Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, but it paid off as Button remained competitive to Hamilton throughout their three years together and even outscored him by a wide margin in 2011. Since 2013, Button has undergone difficulties due to the lack of competency of McLaren, but with Honda joining next year as engine supplier to the team, hopes are high for the future.

#5 2012 Belgian Grand Prix

Button is not known to be a good qualifier, but at this race he got his first pole position in three years. Although at the start many of his rivals like Hamilton and Alonso got eliminated due to Romain Grosjean’s crash, but he drove a brilliant race and consistently built up the gap to finish 13 seconds ahead of Vettel.

After the race, Button commented:

"This circuit is so special to most drivers, the way it flows, the history here. To get a victory here, lights to flag, is very special for me."

#4 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix

During the first part of 2009, Button and Brawn had completely swept the field with six wins, but later as rivals caught up with them, good results had become rarer. Then It was it was at the penultimate round of the season in Brazil that Button had to really push to finally claim that elusive world title.

Before the race, Button had endured a horrible weekend with qualifying only 14th on the grid, while his championship rival Barrichello had claimed pole. In the race, Button slowly charged through the field and by the end got himself into fifth position which after Barrichello’s retirement was enough to grant him the world championship.

Ecstatic after the race, Button said:

"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."

#3 2004 German Grand Prix

In 2004, Button truly starred as he achieved 10 podium finishes with BAR Honda and ended the season third in the drivers’ standings.

His greatest race this year was at the German Grand Prix, where even after being demoted from 3rd on the grid to 13th, he still fought back to finish second. Add to that during the closing stages of the race, he had to drive every half lap with one hand as the strap of his helmet had got loose and he had to adjust it a lot to keep the view in front of him clear.

Later, he described this race as:

"Probably the best race of my career. It is a bit disappointing because if we had started where we qualified we would have had a very good chance of challenging Michael. It is hard to come to terms with that really."

#2 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

Since his debut in 2000, Button had several near misses towards getting his first win. But his resistance paid off as finally in his seventh year in the sport he got that long awaited first win of his career.

Button had qualified a brilliant 4th on the grid but was demoted to 14th after an engine change. In the race, he took full advantage of wet conditions and slowly moved up the field. Later in the race when race leader Alonso went out of contention after pit stop troubles, Button led comfortably to win his first race by over 30 seconds from Pedro de la Rosa.

Relieved after the race, he said:

"What a day, it's been amazing. The weather conditions made it so difficult for everyone. Coming through from fourteenth to win the race couldn't have been better. I need to thank everyone - the strategists - we've got a car that can win races and the team deserves this. It's taken so long but we've finally got here."

#1 2011 Canadian Grand Prix

In one of the longest races ever in F1, Button achieved his greatest ever victory.

In the race Button totally mastered the wet conditions, recovered from collisions with Hamilton and Alonso, went through a drive through penalty, did five pit stopsand recuperated from 21st place to claim victory from Vettel who had committed a mistake with just half a lap to go.

Later, Martin Whitmarsh rightly called this race:

one of the best wins in the history of F1, let alone his. There were punctures, he had to change the front wing, and from 21st I don't know how many times he had to overtake people. He just drove fantastically well. He kept focused. He applied as much pressure as he had to get past and really did a fantastic job. This was 90 per cent him and 10 per cent the car. He did a great, great, great job.