Button is ready to play a game of patience

When Jenson Button was a guest on Channel 4's The Priory, host Jamie Theakston put it to the 21 year old that he was fundamentally unchanged by the experience of becoming one of Formula One's youngest ever drivers.

Naturally Button agreed. Cut to a shot of Button's vast new house in Surrey, and then a picture of his apartment in Monaco, and a look at his Ferrari, and a view of Button surrounded by semi-clad females.

Button took it all in good heart, and continues to do so. In his debut year last season, his wage from Williams was £350,000, substantially increased since by lucrative endorsements and his two-year loan to Benetton. Last year, he was the boy wonder who almost scored points in his first race before his engine seized, then cleared that hurdle at the very next race.

Ultimately he made fewer mistakes in 2000 than any other driver - statistics show no one was less prone to spinning, running off or crashing than Button. The public loved him, and he won every newcomer award in town.

At Benetton, the idea must be to secure his first victory during his two-year loan period, something needed by a team without a win since 1997.

Button must bring much-needed driver impetus to Giancarlo Fisichella, who has not over-stretched himself during his last couple of seasons with Benetton. But outsiders, such as Williams technical director Patrick Head, have wondered whether Button's head is not being turned too much by the sport's glamour.