Jenson Button was one of the finest Formula 1 drivers of his generation. A 2009 world champion with Brawn, he won 15 Grands Prix in his career.
Button started out in F1 back in 2000 with Williams before joining Benetton the following year. In 2003, he switched to BAR Honda, the team that later became Brawn, and then Mercedes.
He finished third in the championship in 2004 behind Ferrari duo Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, having scored 10 podiums. But he would have to wait until the 2006 Hungarian GP for his first win.
Come 2009, he fought off competition from Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, as well as teammate Barrichello, to win the championship. At the end of that campaign, he signed with McLaren, where he spent the final seven seasons of his F1 career.
Those years with the Woking outfit were a mixed bag. While he scored eight victories in their colours, he also slipped into the midfield as the team declined after the 2012 campaign.
Perhaps the finest of Button’s 15 victories came at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2011. He visited the pit lane six times during that wet/dry race – once for a drive-through and twice to repair punctures – and ran in last place before passing the leader Vettel on the final lap.
Peter Windsor compares Lando Norris to Jenson Button
Speaking on his YouTube channel, F1 expert Peter Windsor said another McLaren driver in Lando Norris reminded him of Button in Montreal last weekend. Norris passed both George Russell and Max Verstappen in wet conditions and built up a commanding lead, putting him on course for a second race win.
But when the safety car came out on lap 25 following Logan Sargeant’s crash, Norris carried on for another lap. He was approaching the final corner when Bernd Maylander was deployed, so McLaren had to make a split-second decision, and their hesitation was costly.
Norris re-emerged in third when he came in at the end of the following lap, though he would ultimately finish second after Russell’s error gifted him a place. As you can see in the table below, he still has a long way to go to match Button, but he’s picking up podiums at a similar rate.
Windsor said: “Lando was brilliant today, absolutely fabulous. He looked like Jenson Button when he was winning the Canadian Grand Prix for McLaren. He looked exactly the same, and you had this feeling that he was going to do it.
“His initial passes of both George and Max were superb – beautifully judged, totally confident, and just lovely fluid driving, the type of driving we saw in Miami when he was sailing away to victory. And that’s what it looked like.”
What Max Verstappen said about Lando Norris championship chances
After Charles Leclerc retired in Montreal, Norris (131) closed to within seven points of P2 in the standings behind Verstappen. A title this year looks almost out of the question, but he could be a strong contender come 2025.
Indeed, McLaren have made significant progress in 2024 and are breathing down the necks of Red Bull in terms of performance. With another winter of development under their belt, they could be on an even keel if not ahead.
Speaking in an interview last weekend, Verstappen picked out Norris as one of the future world champions on the current grid. But he did indicate that Leclerc may be a likelier candidate.
Red Bull director Helmut Marko believes that he forms one half of the strongest line-up on the grid alongside Oscar Piastri. And that could yet cause problems for the Milton Keynes squad in the constructors’.
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