Button Joins McLaren for 2010

Yes, it’s an all-star British lineup for McLaren next year. With 2008 F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton racing with Button, this is the first time since Jim Clark and Graham Hill’s stint with Lotus that we’re seeing two British world champs driving for a single team.

News of Button’s move came after much speculation about his future with Brawn. Button, who has been with the same team (Honda, Brawn) since 2003 was expected to stick with his championship team. But as Button puts it:

“It’s always a difficult decision to leave a team when you’ve been there for so long, but life is all about challenges – and, most important of all, it’s about challenging yourself.

“So, although I won the world championship with Brawn GP last year, and I’ll never forget that, I was always adamant that I wanted to continue to set myself fresh challenges. So that’s why I’ve decided to join Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.”

Martin Whitmarsh, team principal of McLaren, was happy to have Button onboard. According to Whitmarsh:

“Everybody at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Jenson to our team. It has always been our policy to employ the two very best possible drivers – and, in Jenson and Lewis, we feel we not only have the fastest pairing on the 2010 grid, but also the two most complete, professional, and dedicated drivers in Formula One.”

Whitmarsh also made it clear that Button’s decision to move to McLaren had little to do with the supposed “very generous offer” given by McLaren.

“I want to make clear that Jenson’s decision to join us was in no way motivated by money. We’ll be paying him no more than he could be getting elsewhere, and the fact is a reflection of not only Jenson’s belief in Vodafone McLaren Mercedes but also his desire and ambition to build on the phenomenal results he achieved during the 2009 season,” Whitmarsh said.

2008 World Champ Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton also had great words to say about Button. According to the 2008 champ:

“I already know Jenson, and we get on very well together… We both really want our team to succeed. Although we’ll be pushing each other hard, I’m sure we’ll very quickly establish a great working relationship. He’s an exceptional driver: very controlled and very smooth, and he has a real depth of knowledge and experience.

“I think we’ll complement each other very well, and our collaboration will make the team stronger as a result. Also, I’m delighted to be racing alongside a fellow British world champion, and I believe we can pull together to make Vodafone McLaren Mercedes the best team on the grid,” Hamilton said.

As for Button, well, the British driver is understandably happy about his decision to join McLaren.

“You can’t help but be affected by this team’s phenomenal history…McLaren is one of the greats of world sport, and its achievements and list of past champions read like a Who’s Who of Formula One – Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and of course my new team mate Lewis Hamilton. I’ve followed the McLaren team ever since I was a small boy, and it feels unbelievable to finally be a part of it.

“It’s also a great pleasure to be joining a fellow British world champion. Lewis has achieved an incredible level of success in a very short period of time, and he’s a wonderfully gifted driver who has earned the respect of every Formula One driver. I’m sure there’s plenty that we can learn from each other, and I’m really looking forward to using our combined knowledge to push forward,” said Jenson.

Good choice on McLaren’s part! And it’s wonderful to see how competitive and yet supportive both drivers can be. Really looking forward to seeing both Button and Hamilton battle it out next year.

Source: Formula1.com

Images: WorldCarFans.com, Mirror.co.uk

Here are the Formula One World Champions from 1996 to 1997. I’m featuring just two drivers this time to make the text a bit easier to read.

1996 Formula One World Champion

Name: Damon Hill (Damon Graham Devereux Hill), OBE

Nationality: British

Team: Williams

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 22

Races: 122, with 115 starts

Podium Finishes: 42

Pole Positions: 20

Fastest Laps Set: 19

Brief Bio:

Born: September 17, 1960

Graham Hill

Damon Hill is the son of the two-time Formula One World Champion Graham Hill. Graham Hill was world champion in 1962 and 1968. In 1975, Damon Hill lost his dad in a horrific plane crash that claimed five other lives. When Graham Hill died, Damon’s family experienced some tough times, particularly after Graham Hill’s entire, uninsured estate was wiped out by the claims of the families of the other five victims.

Damon showed interest in the same line of sports his father loved—motor racing. But unlike other Formula One drivers, Damon had a pretty late start. He entered into motorcycle racing when he was already 23. After some success, he moved on to one-seaters and gradually rose up in ranks in the International Formula 3000 championships. Although Damon was pretty competitive in Formula 3000, he wasn’t able to win any championships.

In 1992, already in his early 30s, Damon became a test driver for the Williams team. Being driver number three when racing in F1 means having way-limited driving action, which is why it’s a good thing Hill found a racing seat in the middle of the 1992 season with the struggling Brabham team. Unfortunately for Damon, Brabham was a sinking ship that was in financial trouble due to lack of sponsorships. The ship sank sometime in 1992, and Damon spent the rest of the season testing for Williams again.

Nigel Mansell, William’s number one guy and the reigning world champion quickly exited Formula One in 1993 to join the North American Cart series, which meant one empty seat and one eager test driver to fill it. Hill ended up with the number “0” car, due to sport technicalities. Since the world champion gets #1 and his partner gets #2, without #1 but with #2, new driver is automatically given the “0” number. Pretty cool, huh?

During this time, his partner was no other than world champion Alain Prost! When Prost said “buh-bye” to Williams and F1 in general in 1994, Hill was joined by another world champion—Ayrton Senna. Ayrton, was William’s number one bet in 1994, but Schumi proved competitive and Senna died tragically before the season’s end. Because he was the most (and the only) experienced driver left in Williams, Hill suddenly found himself thrust into the position of team leader.

To accompany Damon, Williams promoted another test driver to take the #2 seat, David Coulthard—or DC as the media cool cats call him. Later on, Williams would bring back Mansell to share the seat with DC—the team must’ve really been gunning for another championship win during those seasons. Mansell earned 900,000 British Pounds for each of the four races he drove in, while team leader Damon Hill got paid 300,000 Pounds for the entire season. Talk about unfair!

Hill drove exceptionally well in 1994. He was second to Schumacher in points. And when Schumi got banned for two races (for overtaking Hill during a formation lap), and kept getting disqualified—Hill became the race leader. It came to the point where Schumi’s lead was reduced to just a point. Schumi also finished second after Hill during the rain-soaked race in Japan in 1994—after Schumi allegedly implied that Hill who was eight years his senior, wasn’t a world class driver. Now that’s what I call karma.

1994 title went to Schumi of course. So did the 1995. With rookie driver Jacques Villeneuve by his side, Hill dominated the entire season. Unfortunately for Hill, his bad performance the year before made Williams drop him after he won the title. No worries, Arrows picked him up. He also got his second BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, making him one of the only three athletes to have received this award, not once, but twice! That year, the Royal Automobile Club also gave him another prestigious trophy to add to his collection—the Segrave Trophy. So the year didn’t end *that* bad for Hill after all.

1997 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jacques Villeneuve (Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve), OQ – Order of Quebec

Nationality: Canadian

Team: Williams

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 11

Races: 165, with 164 starts

Podium Finishes: 23

Pole Positions: 13

Fastest Laps Set: 9

Brief Bio:

Born: April 9, 1971

Hometown: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Gilles Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve is a Canadian auto racing driver. He is the son of the late Formula One racer, Gilles Villeneuve. Jacques’ father was killed in 1982, while Gilles was on the final qualifying lap for the Belgian Grand Prix that season.

Aside from the 1997 Formula One World Driver’s Championship, Jacques has also won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1995 CART Championship. He is the third driver to have managed this feat—the other two being Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi.

The year Jacques became the F1 champion, Williams’ lead driver Damon Hill was dropped by the company, pushing Villeneuve to become the new team leader. To replace Hill, Williams hired Heinz-Harald Frentzen as driver number 2. While last year, Villeneuve was in a points-race for first place with his own teammate Damon Hill, this year, Villeneuve was in tough competition against another former F1 champion—Michael Schumacher.

His championship win was decided in the final race in Jerez when Schumi slammed against the side of Villeneuve’s car, damaging the Canadian’s sidepod. But while Schumi was forced to retire the race and was also disqualified for the championship, Villeneuve managed to recover and finish in third place—securing the championship title in the process.

After his win, Jacques’ career in F1 started to decline sharply. In 2006, following an alleged injury in the German Grand Prix on lap 31, Villeneuve was temporarily replaced by Robert Kubica. During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Kubica managed to finish in seventh place, but was later disqualified. The FIA discovered that the Sauber car was too light. A few days after this incident, Villeneuve and BMW Sauber announced that they were parting company, effective immediately.

Villeneuve went on to race in the 2007 Le Mans where his Peugeot team finished in second place. He also raced for NASCAR, SPEEDCAR, and V8 Supercars. He has also released a musical album that unfortunately was poorly received in 2007. And has had some TV adverts and a cameo in Driven, the 2001 Sylvester Stallone movie.

NOTE: Notice how both F1 Champions have F1 dads who both died tragic deaths?

Source: Wikipedia throughout.

On the fourth part of this multi-part post, we’re going to be seeing the debut of some of the best Formula One racers to have ever lived. We’re also going to be seeing some recurring names in this list.

So, without further ado, the list of Formula One World Champions from 1966 to 1970.

1966 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jack Brabham–his third and final F1 championship win.

Nationality: Australian

Team: Brabham Racing Team

<click here to read more about Brabham>

Interesting Tidbits about Sir Jack

Brabham is a distinguished member of the Order of Australia, and the Order of the British Empire. He was active in Formula One for 15 years! He made his debut in 1955, and retired from the sport in 1970.

1967 Formula One World Champion

Name: Denny Hulme (Denis Clive “Denny” Hulme), OBE (member of the Order of the British Empire)

Nationality: New Zealande

Team: Brabham Racing Team

Career Highlights:

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 8

Races: 112

Podium Finishes: 33

Pole Positions: 1

Fastest Laps Set: 9

Brief Bio:

Born: June 18, 1936

Died: October 4, 1992

1966 and 1967 was a back-to-back victory for the Brabham F1 team, thanks to Brabham and Hulme. Hulme had a relatively short career in F1. He started racing in 1965, and retired from the sport after just 9 years (1974). After his brief stint with Brabham, Hulme started racing for the McLaren team in F1, participating in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup Series designed specifically for Group 7 sports cars. He became a CanAm champion in 1968 and 1970. At the end of the 1974 season, Hulme decided to retire from F1, but continued racing at the Australian Touring Cars.

Before becoming a part of Formula One, Hulme was known as “The Barefoot Boy from Te Puke”, as he refused to drive without any shoes on. He only started wearing racing shoes in 1960.

One of his favorite racing events was the Bathurst 1000. A race that was held at the world-famous Mount Panorama track in the land down under. During the 1992 event, while driving a BMW M3, Hulme complained about blurred visions over his radio. Apparently, the racing star had suffered a major heart attack while he was driving. He veered into a wall, but managed to keep the car from crashing. The car came to a stop, and by the time the marshals arrived on the scene, they found Hulme still wearing his safety belt and already dead.

1968 Formula One World Champion

Name: Graham Hill (Norman Graham Hill)

Nationality: British

Team: Lotus

<click here to read more about Hill>

This was Hill’s final championship win in Formula One.

1969 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jackie Stewart (Sir John Young “Jackie” Stewart), OBE

Nationality: British

Team: Matra

Career Highlights

Championship Wins: 3

Race Wins: 27

Races: 100, with 99 starts

Podium Finishes: 43

Pole Positions: 17

Fastest Laps Set: 15

Brief Bio:

Born: June 11, 1939

Jackie Stewart was given the nickname “The Flying Scot” during his racing days. This Scottish F1 driver had an 8-year career in Formula One, where he won a total of three Formula One World Drivers’ Championships. He was also a Can-Am or Canadian-American Challenge Cup, and is well-known in the United States as one of the color commentators in the racing TV broadcasts. He was also a pitchman for Ford and was team principal for the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team.

1970 Formula One World Champion

Name: Jochen Rindt (Karl Jochen Rindt)

Nationality: Austrian

Team: Lotus

Career Highlights

Championship Wins: 1

Race Wins: 6

Races: 62, with 60 starts

Podium Finishes: 13

Pole Positions: 10

Fastest Laps Set: 3

Brief Bio:

Born: April 18, 1942

Died: September 5, 1970

The German-Austrian driver was the first and only driver to have ever won the Formula One World Championship posthumously. Aside from being very gifted in F1 racing, Rindt was also very successful in other motorsports including sports car racing. He actually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1965.

Rindt was killed in a practice session for the Italian Grand Prix. According to Hulme who was following Rindt during the session, Rindt’s car made a weaving motion before sharply swerving and crashing into a barrier. The barrier then parted and the suspension pressed into the barrier and the car then hit a stanchion hard. The entire front area of the car was destroyed. Reports say that Rindt had taken to wearing a lap belt, and that the driver had slid down when the belt buckle cut open his throat.

Investigations conducted by the Italian court released findings that the accident was caused by the failure of the vehicle’s right front brake shaft, but that what killed Rindt were poorly-installed barriers.

Rindt was the second team leader from Lotus to have died in two years. Jim Clark was killed in 1968.

Sources: Wikipedia and More Wikipedia