GPI 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix Edition | Page 146

FEATURE J enson Button celebrated the occasion of his 300th grand prix start with a some of his driver mates over a beer, at the end of the first day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, at a purpose built pub: the Button and Dog. The British driver will line up on the grid for his 300th start on Sunday and McLaren marked the occasion by building a replica of an English pub in his honour. Most of the paddock made a visit during the course of the day to congratulate Button on the milestone, including ex-teammate Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ championship leader Nico Rosberg. The walls of the Dog and Button were pasted with images depicting Button’s career at the pinnacle of the sport, including his 2008 F1 world championship victory with Brawn GP. The ‘Button Brewery’ served drinks such as ‘Ol’ Brawny’, ‘Somerset Scrumper’ and ‘300’ – including matching beer mats and bespoke mugs. Button is set to ‘retire’ at the end of this season, making way for Stoffel Vandoorne to join Fernando Alonso at the McLaren-Honda outfit. At the age of 20, Button made his F1 debut at the 2000 Australian Grand Prix and since then won a world title in 2009, won 15 races – the first of which was at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix – and scored 50 podiums. He started his career with Williams where he remained for a season, which was followed by a two year stint at Benetton Renault. He moved to BAR Honda in 2003. The team became Honda Racing in 2006, before morphing into Brawn GP in his championship year of 2009. He moved to McLaren in 2010.