Jenson Button interviewed after winning his F1 World Championship in 2009 Part of Santander Open Academy — High-Performance Leadership: Lessons from Formula 1®
What does winning the World Drivers Championship mean to you? Jenson: This was my lifetime ambition, and my aim in my racing career. Any driver that starts racing, would love to be Formula One World Champion. It means a lot to me, and it's taken me 21 years to to get here. And that's a lot of your life going into one thing. It's just been running through my mind what I've actually achieved.
Were you beginning to think it wouldn't happen for you? Jenson: I think the only time was this winter. I mean, the last couple of years we struggled for pace with the car. But you always think there's a possibility. You know, you think that you're putting in the effort, you're working as hard as you possibly can. I don't mean just the driving, I mean the fitness, I mean working with the engineers, pushing the team. If you don't have the right personnel trying to make sure that you do have.
How did you persevere? Jenson: That was a very difficult time for me. It wasn't just myself, you know, it was the same for every single person that was part of the team. But Formula One's been a massive part of my life and motor racing has been a massive part of my life since I was eight years old. So—I could make a bit of a difference if I kept positive and—such difficult circumstances. Or maybe that spurred them on. Maybe that made them realize what they could lose, and that's the reason why we achieved.
