Jenson Button
The smooth and strategic British driver who seized a fairy-tale world title with the underdog Brawn GP team in a storybook 2009 season.
Born 1980 (age 46)·British racing driver·Birthday: January 19·Generation X
Biography
Jenson Button's Formula One career was a masterclass in perseverance and polished speed. He entered the sport as a fresh-faced talent, but it took nearly a decade for the pieces to fall into place. The 2009 season became the stuff of motorsport legend: his Honda team was rescued from collapse in a management buyout, emerging as the shockingly fast but financially fragile Brawn GP. Button, now a veteran with a silky-smooth driving style perfectly suited to the new regulations, won six of the first seven races. He coolly managed his points lead to clinch the World Championship, a triumph of opportunity met with supreme skill. He later provided a perfect counterpoint to Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, adding further wins and proving his title was no fluke, before evolving into a respected elder statesman of the grid.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Jenson was born in 1980, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Jenson Was Born
The biggest hits of 1980
#1 Movie
The Empire Strikes Back
Best Picture
Ordinary People
#1 TV Show
Dallas
Jenson's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1980Born
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1985Started school
Live Aid concerts raise money for Ethiopian famine
Gas: $1.12/galHome: $62,900Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Careless Whisper" — Wham!Best Picture: Out of Africa
1993Became a teenager
European Union officially established
Gas: $1.11/galHome: $86,600Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"I Will Always Love You" — Whitney HoustonBest Picture: Schindler's List
1996Could drive
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
1998Could vote
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2001Turned 21
September 11 attacks transform the world
Gas: $1.46/galHome: $126,400Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Hanging by a Moment" — LifehouseBest Picture: A Beautiful Mind
2010Turned 30
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
2020Turned 40
COVID-19 pandemic shuts down the world
Gas: $2.17/galHome: $248,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Blinding Lights" — The WeekndBest Picture: Nomadland
2026Age 46 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Won the 2009 Formula One World Drivers' Championship with the Brawn GP team.
- Secured 15 Grand Prix victories across a career spanning 18 seasons in Formula One.
- Finished as championship runner-up in the 2011 season while driving for McLaren.
- Achieved a record 306 Grand Prix starts at the time of his final race in 2017.
Did You Know?
He is one of only a few drivers to have won a Grand Prix in a car bearing his own name (Brawn GP's chassis was designated the 'Brawn BGP 001').
He competed in triathlons and the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans after his F1 career.
His father, John Button, was a well-known figure in the F1 paddock, often seen wearing colorful hats in support of his son.
“I'm not the sort of person who wants to tear the door off. I want to open it smoothly.”
