Jenson Button Keynote Speaker

Jenson Button is one of the UK’s most successful racing drivers, the winner of the 2009 FIA Formula 1 World Championship who enjoyed an 18 year career at the pinnacle of world motorsport. During his career he won 15 Grands Prix and drove for renowned teams including Williams, Renault, Honda and McLaren.

Like many contemporary F1 drivers Jenson started his career in karts. The son of John Button, a successful driver in his own right, Jenson was immediately competitive, winning the 1991 British Cadet Karting Championship. Over the next years Jenson became a regular winner eventually moving into racing cars in 1998 at the age of 18.

He was immediately competitive, winning the British Formula Ford Championship, the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch and the annual McLaren-Autosport British Racing Drivers Club Award which resulted in him test driving a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14 F1 car.

The following year Jenson competed in Formula 3, winning three rounds of the British championship and finishing 3rd overall in the series. This led to him being offered a test drive by the Williams Formula 1 team following which he was offered a full-time drive.

After a debut season with Williams, Jenson was invited to join the Benetton team, remaining with the team for two years during which it was rebranded as Renault. Those first seasons witnessed 14 top-six finishes, further demonstrating Jenson’s capabilities.

In 2003 he joined the BAR-Honda team – later rebranded Honda. The highlight of six seasons with the team was finishing 3rd in the 2004 Formula 1 World Championship with 10 podium finishes. His break-through race win came at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Following Honda’s sudden withdrawal from Formula 1 at the end of 2008 the team was taken over by British engineer Ross Brawn. It was for Brawn Grand Prix that Jenson won the 2009 World Championship, the team’s highly innovative, Mercedes-powered car winning six of the first seven Grands Prix in the hands of Britain’s star driver.

As reigning Champion Jenson was signed to drive for McLaren, winning a further 8 Grands Prix between 2010-12 and finishing runner up in the 2011 World Championship, ahead of 5th placed team mate Lewis Hamilton.

He remained with McLaren during the first three seasons of the hybrid engine formulae, stepping back from Formula 1 at the end of 2016. He made a guest appearance for McLaren at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, deputising for the absent Fernando Alonso, and finished his career racing sports cars in Japan until 2019. He won the 2018 Super GT title.

In 2021 Jenson Button became a Senior Advisor for the Williams F1 team, working with its driver academy and acting as a team ambassador. Since 2019 he has been a member of the Sky Sports F1 presenting team, providing expert insights to audiences worldwide.