Jenson Button: My championship year (Book review)

Of the glut of books which have appeared on the subject of Britain’s other F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton, the authorised biography was one of the less interesting efforts.

The official word on Jenson Button’s extraordinary championship-winning season promises a more personal angle incorporating his race-by-race notes on the season and even text messages from his friends and family. Is it enough to make it a cut above a typical Christmas cash-in?

A copy of “My championship year” arrived with amusing timing a few weeks ago. The book, which has “foreword by Ross Brawn” emblazoned on the front of it, landed on my doormat on the same day Button confirmed his sensational split from the team that made him champion.

There’s no hint of an explanation for why the Brawn-Button split happened to be gleaned from the book. It takes the story from Honda’s shock withdrawal 12 months ago to Button and Brawn’s double championship triumph. Remarks on the future are conspicuously absent.

The book adds a twist to the usual season review by narrating it in diary form and including some of the many messages exchanged between Button and his family and friends – from his mum to the tabloids’ new favourite Jessica Michibata.

By far the most interesting passages are the opening chapter which covers the aftermath of Honda’s shock withdrawal – and the second where Button describes his excitement at discovering how potent the BGP 001 was.

In other places it feels a bit by-the-numbers and lapses into the kind of prose you expect to find in a press release.

But it’s generously illustrated and keenly-priced and as such is likely to sell very well.

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