Jenson Button won the 2009 F1 world championship with Brawn GP, a team that only competed in the sport for one season before becoming the side fans today know as Mercedes. On the Missed Apex podcast, the former McLaren driver revealed his backup plan if Ross Brawn had decided not to purchase the defunct Honda Works team at the end of the 2008 season.
Honda abruptly pulled out of Formula 1 at the end of 2008. With major redundancies in store for all its employees, team principal Brawn stepped in to buy the team out for a sum of just $1.
Button and his teammate Rubens Barrichello’s careers were also on the line. With no seat for 2009, Button had his backup ready if Brawn had also pulled out of the deal. “He only bought it for a dollar. I would have bought it for a dollar – there you go!”
TEN YEARS AGO…@JensonButton conquers the world with Brawn GP in Brazil!#F1 #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/HVsFWXlYza
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 18, 2019
Brawn‘s decision to buy the team turned out to be a huge blessing for Button, who won his only title in F1 with them. After spending one year with them, he moved onto McLaren from the 2010 season onwards.
While he did enjoy sporadic success during the first four years at Woking, the team’s failed alliance with Honda in the turbo-hybrid era of the sport meant he chose to retire at the end of 2016. Had Brawn’s acquisition not materialized, Button’s racing career could have panned out very differently.
The 44-year-old, however, is still pursuing his racing career very religiously. Since his F1 retirement, Button has dabbled in NASCAR, the British GT Championship, and the IMSA Sportscar Championship. Most recently, he competed in the 2024 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Hertz Team Jota in the LMH category.
