Jenson Button

I think I first saw Jenson (the 2009 Formula 1 World Champion) as a kid racing in karts in the late 80s or early 90s where he was clearly special. And subsequently followed his career all the way from then through F1 into his retirement. I still have a JB baseball cap on my hat rack. I’ve always liked Jenson, who came over as a friendly well adjusted guy who loved life and racing without any of the politics or artifice. That is pretty much confirmed by this autobiography, but unfortunately it doesn’t tell us much else. There are clearly areas that could have benefited from deeper analysis (especially around his early rapid rise through the junior ranks) that get glossed over. In other spots his diplomatic phrasing hints at things without really telling the actual story. I has hoping for more, but this turns out to be a marginally decent sports biography but nothing special. I think I know more about Jenson as a person from following his Instagram account than from these pages.… (mais)

I've followed Formula 1 since 1997 so I'm fortunate to have seen the whole of Jenson Button's F1 career on my TV screen. As a rookie F1 fan, I took a shining to Williams as Sir Frank is a sanddancer, like myself, and the first F1 t-shirt I ever bought had a fresh-faced young British guy on it (see picture below). The guy was Jenson Button and I am proud to call myself a fan.



I was so excited to see that JB had written his autobiography and I would have cut my arm off for a signed copy but alas the great man didn't make his way to the chilly North East of England. Thankfully, Amazon delivered on release day and I had my treasured (unsigned) book in my greedy hands.

What stood out straight away for me was Jenson's amazing sense of humour. That smile we know so well is woven into each page of this book as we relive the highs and lows of his life so far. I honestly didn't expect to laugh so much at what is in essence the same joke, namely the many mispronunciations of 'Jenson'. Hopefully the world champion doesn't have this problem any more!

Key races are replayed through Jenson's eyes, including one of my favourites: Canada 2011. The writing is so vivid that you can clearly see the race in your mind and I felt my heart racing as the chequered flag approached, even though I knew that JB had won!

The book is also interspersed with photographs of Jenson's life and career, including my favourite, the iconic image of Jenson's first ever Grand Prix win in Hungary 2006:



It's perfectly balanced with the highs and lows. Wouldn't we all love to forget those awful Honda years? Only somebody as naturally talented as Jenson Button could bounce back in such style and go on to win a world championship. Although naturally talented, we know that money talks in F1 and I felt as if JB has had to fight for every race seat. It saddens me to think that money trumps talent but I am delighted to see that sometimes hard work pays off and dreams can come true.

No review of this book would be complete without talking about Papa Smurf, John Button, who was as much a part of an F1 weekend as the drivers themselves. His support and love for Jenson is immortalised in print and I finally understood JB's reasons for leaving the sport.

Life to the Limit is an entertaining, candid and emotional account of an outstanding racing career that no F1 fan should miss. Thank you for sharing your life, memories and special moments with us, Jenson. On to the next chapter...… (mais)