Young driver rage of Formula One

Stephen Wade

Thursday, April 27, 2000 | 8:11 a.m.

SILVERSTONE, England - Buttonmania, the latest craze to hit Britain, appears to be spreading beyond Formula One.

Nobody is more surprised than Jenson Button, the 20-year-old driver whose instant celebrity is being compared with the rise of the Spice Girls.

"Buttonmania?" he asked, breaking into a smile. "I don't know about that. I prefer to focus on my driving. That's what's most important to me."

Still, amid much hoopla last week in London, the Brit launched a line of clothing and sportswear his managers hope will bring in $6 million this season.

Managers David Robertson and Harald Huysman also say an autobiography is in the works to capitalize on Button's youthful, boy-next-door looks and the up-market image of F1. One racing magazine already has christened him "F1's New King of Cool."

The Guardian newspaper summed up the book: "This is a volume which has yet to be written about a career which has yet to take place."

But a solid foundation might have been laid last Sunday, when Button drove his Williams BMW to a fifth-place finish in the British Grand Prix. It was his second points-yielding result in four races this season.

A year ago, he would have paid to enter the Silverstone circuit. On Sunday he started on the grid alongside two-time series champion Michael Schumacher. But Button, the fifth-youngest driver ever in F1, seems calm through all the attention.

Others aren't, however.

"It's been weird, really, because I think of people as people," Button said. "I saw someone in the video shop I have never met before who came up and said he was really nervous talking to me."

Meanwhile, the Williams team hopes all the attention doesn't hurt Button's progress behind the wheel.

"I suppose this is motor racing's equivalent of the Spice Girls," said technical director Patrick Head, who has 25 years of experience in F1.

"I suppose you could say it's all a little unfortunate and driven by hype, but that's the way it is."

It's not only the tabloids that have gotten into the act. The more-restrained Times in London put him on the cover of its British Grand Prix pullout section and wrote in a headline surrounding a portraitlike photograph: "Jenson Button, from boy next door to great British hope."

But that hope might not last much longer with Williams, a team that often changes drivers. Although Button makes a pittance by F1 standards ($660,000), he might be replaced next year by CART champion Juan Montoya.

Team owner Frank Williams says it's too early to discuss that, but he doesn't talk as if he doubts his young driver.

"He is very mature for a 20-year-old, and from what we have seen of him in the cockpit, he is exceptionally calm," Williams said. "He has exceeded our expectations and he is available to us if we should so choose."

But Williams says other factors will come into play before a decision is made about Button.

That doesn't worry the driver, who is constantly besieged with questions about his youth.

"Who says I'm in Formula One too soon?" he asked. "But I don't need to answer the critics. I'll just go out and do it on the circuit."

He did just that Sunday, racing against Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen, two drivers he would have bought a ticket to see.

"I'm living a dream," Button said. "What an amazing feeling being alongside the two world champions."