Why Formula One did not 'rape' Button

"Er," said Button. "Because it's interesting to see other people's views, good or bad."

Not always, apparently. Last season Button was publicly slated by his team boss at Benetton (the same team for which Button still drives, now called Renault). After Button acquired a £1.2 million 72-foot yacht called Little Missy, Flavio Briatore said Button should concern himself more with how he earned the money to pay for such toys. He needed to learn from Michael Schumacher to be a dedicated professional, to be more involved with the team, to eat with the mechanics, to think and live motor racing. None of that appears in the book, only a sympathetic quote from Briatore.

"That was left out because I think I know Flavio better than most people," explained Button. "I don't think everything you read in the newspapers is the truth. He told me he didn't have a problem with those things and that I didn't have a problem with focus. It was very tough working with the car and the engineers. Everything was new. Flavio was very helpful, although a lot of people don't see it that way. Whenever I had a problem he always told me what he thought and tried to help."

The book was of course sanctioned by the team and their sponsors, so presumably they know that Button enthuses about his "toys" in it at some length.

"Everyone would love to have a 72-foot boat," he writes. "When you were 20 wouldn't you have loved a Ferrari 360 Modena? I thought it was a mega bit of kit!"

Quite a lot of things are "mega" in the book, along with cool, pukka, groovy and weird. It is an odd characteristic of the narrative - one that does him few favours - that he sounds much younger than he does face-to-face. Perhaps this is a legacy of effectively ending his education in favour of karting at age 14, and it comes as no surprise that he has read two books in his life.

In person he is as entertaining as he seems in the book, yet far more articulate. He is certainly immensely likeable, and petrolheads are glad he is likely to have a far better time in the Renault R202 when the new season begins in Melbourne on 3 March.

The book also refers many times to the fact that Button is now under new management, even though that change was made public just one week before the publication date. Is this why the first run of 15,000 copies was pulped at a cost borne by his new management, as reported in the trade magazine The Bookseller?

"Er," said Button awkwardly. "Lots of little things about my childhood were wrong." That doesn't sound terribly like his ghostwriter, the authoritative David Tremayne. "Maybe it was because of the way I put it to him," said Button. Surely that is what the proof-reading stage is for? Button looked vague. Was it to do with the management change, then?

"Um," said Button."It was that along with a lot of other things."

It is generally accepted that it was a good idea for Button to change his management. He was with the former team for years from karting days, but some felt his problems last year could have been helped by better advice. Button discusses none of that in the book, but clearly concurs.

"I wasn't happy with the way things were going," he said. "I didn't feel very comfortable with the people I was working with. Things weren't going the way I wanted. I felt I could have been better advised. Maybe they didn't have enough F1 experience. It wasn't a terrible split. We don't hate each other."

It would not be like Button to hate anyone. He holds no grudge against Eddie Irvine for being casually dismissive of his abilities last autumn.

Just a season earlier Button was plainly starstruck by Irvine and his lifestyle of conspicuous consumption.

"I've never thought Eddie was special or my idol," he insisted. "He should have talked to me, not the press. He likes talking to the press.

"He's obviously a very excitable person. He finds it good fun. But we get on well."

In any case Button writes in the book that he himself is "not one to shy away from publicity .

. . I love it". He believes "life is there to enjoy, so I'm going to get on with it". He describes a perfect night out as eating at Nobu, the Ivy or the Caprice, then on to a couple of bars with his friends, and thence to a nightclub. It seems reasonable to ask if he has ever taken recreational drugs. "Excuse me?" he grinned. "No. I've never been offered them. No one I know is into that. I come from Somerset, farming country. No one from round there is into that sort of thing."

In a way that quote sums up Button. He is sufficiently immature to proclaim Somerset a drug-free zone, but he is also sufficiently easy-going to deal with the question in relaxed fashion. Not a deep thinker, maybe, but why should he be? He is 22 and has devoted all his formative years to driving round in circles, yet is perfectly equipped to go places in F1.

In his debut season he received almost nothing but laurels. Last season he received only the opposite. This year, with a decent car, should be the best yet to judge whether Button will yet ride the F1 rollercoaster to the very top.

My Life On The Formula One Rollercoaster by Jenson Button is published by Bantam at £16.99.