Five of the best: Jenson Button’s greatest F1 drives

At the 2016 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Jenson Button announced that he wouldn’t be racing in F1 in 2017. Many had assumed that without a seat on the grid next year retirement would be imminent, but thanks to some blue sky thinking from McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, that might not be the case.

With Stoffel Vandoorne – who successfully stood in for an injured Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix back in April – taking Button’s place, the 2009 world champion will be retained as a reserve driver and McLaren ambassador next season.

The move will allow the team to promote a youngster whose chance to race in F1 is long overdue, and will also give Button a much needed break after 17 consecutive years in the sport.

On top of that, McLaren will have perhaps the most overqualified reserve driver F1 has ever known, and their two-year deal with Button may also prove to be a useful bargaining chip should Fernando Alonso wish to negotiate a contract extension for 2018 and beyond.

So it might not be the end of the road for the 36-year-old.

But if this season does prove to be his last, in Button’s own words he will have nothing left to prove. Once dismissed as a “playboy” by Flavio Briatore at Benetton, the British driver once told us that’d he’d trade in the flamboyant lifestyle for a maiden win in a heartbeat.

He had to wait longer than most – 113 races to be precise – but his first victory was followed three years later by an extraordinary world title, earned off the back of a pre-season where Honda’s departure left his entire career in jeopardy.

That’s ancient history now. Button has since raced alongside Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – two of the greatest drivers of their era – at McLaren, and more than held his own against both.

JB isn’t quite in their league: a reliance on a stable rear end has seen him struggle in situations where more adaptable drivers have thrived. But the fact that he has measured up to F1’s very best talents, coupled with a reputation for flourishing in wet conditions, should leave fans in no doubt about just how good he is.

F1 will be all the poorer when he does eventually hang up his boots.

So as he embarks upon his 300th GP this weekend in Malaysia, here are five occasions JB excelled...

In an impressive debut season with Williams, Button’s best performance came at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Having qualified 16^th in a field of 22, the youngster was forced to start from the back of the grid after his engine failed to fire up ahead of the formation lap.

Cue rain. Having worked his way back up to tenth place (two safety cars and a number of retirements helped no end), Button pitted for wet tyres as conditions deteriorated with 12 laps to go. The timing of the stop was perfect and it allowed the 20-year-old to storm up the order into fourth, just a second and a half shy of the podium come the chequered flag.

Button’s standout drive in his title-winning season wasn’t any of his six race wins, all of which were relatively comfortable owning to Brawn’s early dominance. Rather, it was the recovery drive which confirmed him as world champion in the penultimate grand prix of the year.

With Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel bearing down on him and the pressure beginning to mount, Button qualified 14^th in Interlagos as teammate Rubens Barrichello took pole. Knowing what he needed to do in order to seal the championship, Button drove aggressively through the field to finish fifth, enough to take the title with a race to spare.

His subsequent rendition of Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’ and his embrace with his late father will live long in the memory for many F1 fans.

Known for his potency in the wet, Button has never been quite as well regarded in the dry. But in 2011 he dispelled any doubts about his ability in normal conditions, winning from the front row in Suzuka in a direct fight with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

Although his win was not enough to prevent Vettel claiming a second title with four races remaining, the result helped Button to finish second overall in 2011, the third time he’d finished on the ‘podium’ in the drivers standings.

Another criticism of Button over the years has been his lack of pace over one lap, and a total of eight pole positions from over 300 GP entries appears to reflect this. Of those, four came with Brawn when their early superiority in 2009 was clear, and another three came with Honda between 2004 and 2006.

His one and only pole position in what is now almost seven years with McLaren came at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2012, when he emerged three-tenths ahead of second placed Kamui Kobayashi. Teammate Lewis Hamilton meanwhile was nearly a full second adrift in eighth.

When it came to lights out Button made a perfect getaway to maintain his lead into Turn 1, thus avoiding the carnage caused by Romain Grosjean as the airborne Lotus took three other cars out of the race. Button left the field for dust after the resulting safety car, and never looked back en route to the chequered flag.

Thought we’d forgotten about Button’s astonishing win in Montreal? How could we? His victory at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2011 – the longest grand prix in F1 history at four hours, four minutes and 39 seconds – was one of the greatest the sport has ever witnessed.

Button’s race was preposterous. Starting under the safety car in sodden conditions, he leapt ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first corner when the race was eventually green flagged. With spray limiting his vision in his mirrors, Button soon squeezed Hamilton into the wall on the main straight, ending the McLaren driver’s race.

Button continued, but was unable to make use of his superb pace after a drive-through penalty for speeding behind the safety car, and the race was red flagged a short time later. It resumed after a two-hour delay, but once again Button was left frustrated at the restart as a clash with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso handed him a puncture, dropping him to last place again.

A stirring comeback followed. Scything his way through the field, a rush for dry tyres with ten laps to go promoted Button to fourth, and he made short work of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher up ahead, leaving only Sebastian Vettel between him and victory.

Despite lapping much quicker than the German in the closing stages it looked like Button had run out of time to overtake, but with just six corners to go Vettel slid off the circuit and gifted Button the win of his life.

Utterly enthralling; F1 at its absolute best. Don’t be a stranger, JB.