Jenson Button: Stop calling the Brawn his best car — it wasn’t
Jenson Button knows what you think. That the Brawn BGP 001 — the white-and-dayglo rocket ship that carried him to the 2009 title — was the sweetest thing he ever drove. He also knows you’re wrong.
“The best car for me was the 2011 McLaren. I’d say it was the best car I ever drove in F1,” Button told Motorsport.com, softly pricking one of modern Formula 1’s great myths while sounding like a man remembering a favorite suit that fit just right.
It’s easy to see how the legend formed. Brawn GP was born from the ashes of Honda’s abrupt exit, turned up with an interpretation of the new aero rules that stunned the field, and promptly won both titles in its only season before morphing into Mercedes for 2010. Button won early and often, and the fairytale wrote itself. But the car? Not the magic carpet people imagine.
“We went from the regulations with more downforce in 2008 to then less downforce in 2009,” Button said. “So [the Brawn] was better than the other cars, but it wasn’t that quick; there were still weaknesses of the car. But the memories from that car were amazing.”
That distinction matters. The Brawn was the best story. The McLaren MP4-26 was his best tool.
In 2011, Button looked utterly at home in silver and red. He scored multiple wins, including that watery, marathon victory in Montreal — the longest race in F1 history — and finished runner-up in the championship to a rampant Sebastian Vettel. The car suited his touch, rewarded his patience, and let him play the long game on Sundays. It didn’t make him champion, but it made his driving look complete.
And yet when Button talks about pure feel, he doesn’t go straight to McLaren. He rewinds to 2004 and the BAR-Honda 006, a V10-era thoroughbred that did everything but win. “For the feel, I would say probably the 2004 BAR-Honda,” he said. “We had a flexi rear wing and it was such a nice car to drive [with the] V10. It wasn’t as quick as the Ferrari, but it was just really nice to drive. I got 10 podiums. Didn’t win a race.”
There’s something very Button about that answer. He’s never been the driver to fetishize raw numbers. He talks about balance, rotation, the way a car breathes beneath you at high speed. The ’04 BAR didn’t top the timesheets against Ferrari’s juggernaut, but it left an impression.
His first love gets a nod too: the Williams FW22 from his rookie season in 2000. “It did nothing wrong. It was just so nice to drive, like a big go-kart,” he said, adding that he recently had another go in it at Silverstone. Anyone who watched that season remembers the looseness in his style and the grin that came with it.
So where does that leave the Brawn? On a pedestal, just not the one you think. The car was incisive when it mattered and fragile in places Button felt every weekend. It gave him his championship and an indelible chapter in F1 folklore. But the greatest car he drove? No. The greatest plot twist he lived through? Absolutely.
That separation of story and substance is refreshing in an era that loves to compress everything into a headline. Button’s career has room for both. The Brawn BGP 001 is the fairy tale you tell the kids. The McLaren MP4-26 is the engineer’s pick — and the driver’s, too.
Button’s path through Formula 1 only underlines it. He arrived at Williams, survived the rough-and-tumble with Benetton/Renault, matured at BAR/Honda, rode the lightning with Brawn, and found a second peak at McLaren. Fifteen grand prix wins, a 2009 world title, and, if you ask him, a clear idea of what “good” really felt like from behind the wheel.
You can love the Brawn without pretending it was perfect. Button certainly does. He just remembers the McLaren as the car that gave him everything he asked for — and didn’t need a miracle to do it.
