And for Formula One’s followers too, Button is treasured, even for his slightly off-the-rails phase in the early 2000s, when he was called a “lazy playboy” by a former team boss. A survey of more than 200,000 fans recently had him among the top three most popular, way ahead of Hamilton. It was a travesty that he did not win BBC Sports Personality back in 2009, his championship-winning season.
All this charm off the track should not distract from the fact that Button is one of the quickest drivers this country has ever produced. As the years have gone on, the pole positions have dried up, but his speed in racing has never been in doubt.
Button’s tactical acumen, and feeling for changeable conditions, has always been his greatest strength. Where others flounder in the wet, he always judges it right. Such skills brought him his first win in 2006, his first for McLaren in 2010, and his most memorable, from the back to the front in Canada four years ago.
While there are some mixed emotions around his expected exit, given how McLaren have toiled in the past few years, Button has achieved everything he wanted, and no less than his prodigious talent deserved.
Jenson Button is poised to quit Formula One
Many will simply be satisfied that he has done it on his terms without being made to wait for news, putting aside his famous loyalty to think about what is best for him. And the truth is, this is the right time, perhaps even a year or two too late.
Earlier in the season, with typical good grace, he was able to enjoy a joke about a piece I had written posing the question, ‘why does he bother carrying on?’ It appears that after a fruitless season, with McLaren and Honda years from success, he has realised more can be achieved by leaving the only world he has known for the last 15 years.
Jenson Button has been discussing his future with McLaren chief Ron Dennis
It is the only shame of his likely departure that a superb career is coming to an end with Button racing so far from the front – where he has always belonged.