Born Jenson Alexander Lyons on January 19, 1980 in Frome, Somerset, Jenson Button was destined to become a race car driver. He initially started competing in karting at age eight, and by 1991 had claimed the British Cadet Kart Championship by winning all 34 races in the series. At age 18, the young Englishman won the British Formula Ford Championship which then precipitated a move into the Formula 3 classification in 1999. In 2002, Button earned a seat with the William Formula 1 team and thus began his career in the global pinnacle of motorsport. Button experienced ups-and-downs while driving for the Williams, Benetton and Renault teams, but it all come right at the Hungarian Grand Prix where, in the 113th start of his F1 career, he won his first Grand Prix. On December 5, 2008, Honda announced they were pulling out of Formula 1, thus leaving Button without a ride for the 2009 season. However, at the eleventh hour - and out of the ashes of the flamed-out Honda team - Brawn GP was born. In the Mercedes-Benz-powered BGP 001, Button’s 2009 season soon became one of the biggest Cinderella stories in the history of Formula 1. In an 18,000 RPM wall of sound, Button won the opening round of series in Australia and backed it up with another triumph at round two in Malaysia. Bahrain, Monaco and Turkey brought three more victories. Then, on Sunday afternoon, October 18 in the 71-lap Formula 1 Grande Premio Petrobras Do Brasil at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Jenson Button drove to the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship. The 170th Grand Prix career start for the British driver, Button placed fifth in the penultimate GP of the season thus sealing his first world title.

"It's really amazing," he said afterwards. "After the last few races I've had this makes up for it. It was a totally awesome race, I'm world champion!

"Its 21 years since I first raced a kart,” he went on. “I love winning, I never expected to be world champion in F1, because you think racing drivers in F1 are different from you. But I did it today."