If you have seen the TV commercial for the recently launched Boss Bottled. Sport. fragrance, you’ll find its ambassador Jenson Button putting on a look of steely determination as he visualises himself at a race.
After a sequence of close-ups of his green puppy eyes (of which his female fans would no doubt appreciate), the camera then pans to reveal that Button is in his apartment, apparently about to leave for race day.
Just as he leaves to give the camera another smouldering stare - this time whilst putting on a Westlife-ready leather jacket - he sprays on the fragrance, and looks suitably invigorated by it.
 |
| Button |
It’s the kind of thing the easy-going, self-deprecating British and 2009 Formula One world champion would have had a nice laugh over, which was exactly what he did when Star2 caught up with him at a recent event in Dubai to launch the fragrance.
“I race around at 300km/h, but this was more nerve-wrecking than driving a Formula One car!” said Button, 32, about filming the ad. “But it was a great experience. From the previous (Boss Bottled) ads I’ve seen, I thought, ‘however bad I am, it’s going to turn out OK’. And I really like it; it’s really, really well done.”
We wouldn’t say he was bad, but having someone with Button’s boyish good looks and laid-back demeanour trying to pull off Zoolander’s Blue Steel isn’t exactly a perfect fit. But then again, Button has carved quite a remarkable career for himself by straddling that awkward middle ground in his own unflappable manner.
For some people, such as retired British racer David Coulthard, Button is a throwback to 70s drivers like James Hunt. Not a Formula One history fan? All you need to know is Hunt was famous for having 5,000 notches on his bedpost.
On the other hand, former world champion Jacques Villenueve dismissed Button as a “boy band member”, while another fellow Brit and world champion Damon Hill said he was simply too “frighteningly normal” and “even-tempered” to ever win Formula One’s top honour. Apparently you’ve got to be a bit “bonkers” to do that.
But after over a decade in the sport, Button has proved his sceptics wrong, winning the drivers’ championship (albeit after nine years) and establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with - whilst staying the same level-headed person. It helps that he surrounds himself with family and close friends, including girlfriend Jessica Michibata (a 27-year-old Japanese-Argentine model), as he races around the world.
As we chatted with Formula One’s nice guy, on a yacht moored by Dubai’s seven-star Burj Al-Arab hotel, no less, he was effortlessly charming, extremely well-spoken, completely diplomatic, and effusive in his praise for other drivers.
But whenever he spoke about Formula One, that’s when you see that steely determination again, and in person, it definitely cuts through those green puppy eyes.
It’s been 12 years in Formula One for you. What keeps you going?
It’s massively addictive, when you get the chance to win a race. My Formula One career has not been the most straightforward. I’ve had some very good times, and also had some very bad times. I know how much it means to win a grand prix, how difficult it is; so when I win a grand prix, it’s a very good feeling.
Winning in Formula One means you’re racing against the best drivers in the world. When you come out on top, that feeling’s amazing. That’s what I live for. So yeah, I’m not gonna get bored of that feeling.
The reason in the end why I’ll stop racing Formula One will be the stresses, the pressure, the travel. It won’t be a lack of hunger.
Speaking of the pressures, how do you keep yourself focused throughout the Formula One season?
The preparation is very important. Formula One is different compared to a lot of sports. For example, in football, before the game, they have a lot of time with the other players in the locker room. It’s very, very different to what we have.
We have to go before the cameras before we go out. We’re with sponsors, the team ... Formula One is such a glamorous sport that you’ve got to really take yourself away from that and spend time on your own, focus on what you’re doing.
You have to run through the race in your own head. We do a lot of visualisation work as well; with a steering wheel, I close my eyes and basically visualise myself driving around the circuit.
In Formula One, it’s all or nothing. You drive up to the circuit and immediately you’re racing. You don’t have a warm-up. It’s quite difficult and it takes some time to get used to that, so preparation is key, really, to a good race.
That’s why I think (Boss Bottled. Sport) is a great fragrance for me to be involved in. Sharpening the sense is exactly what we need, and it’s high-tech, which is exactly what Formula One is. Formula One is the most high-tech sport in the world. It’s a great partnership.
What’s your race-day routine like?
For the race, I wake up in the mornings, and always go for a run or a swim, just to get the blood pumping. And then we always run through the same programme. Sounds boring, but I pretty much eat the same thing at the same time of the day.
I spend time with the engineers, and I also have a massage before the race, which most of you would probably think is quite nice, but it’s quite painful. Basically my physio is warming my muscles up, so it’s quite an aggressive massage. Then it’s straight into the car, focused, relaxed and ready for the start.
Do you have any superstitions? Lucky underwear, perhaps?
We don’t actually wear underwear when we’re racing! We have fireproof underwear, I suppose, which are long johns with long-sleeved tops. I knew you’d get excited about that.
How do you unwind the day after a race?
Here we are (at the press event)! This is perfect for me, really (laughs).
Basically, we do all the engineering after the race, the interviews, and normally I do a massage just to relax. Yeah, I do like my massages. And my physio just likes touching me.
I’m always pretty tired the day after. That’s when it really hits you because after the race, you’re still on a high and the adrenaline is still pumping, so it’s the next day when you really feel it.
When I won the world championship in 2009 in Brazil, I was ecstatic, jumping all over the mechanics, and the atmosphere was amazing.
And later that night, I was supposed to go party and celebrate. I went for one drink, and headed home, because I was just shattered. I just sat in my hotel room, on my own, and just reflected on the whole weekend and what I had achieved, and the journey to get there.
After the season, do you ever just sit around and do nothing, watch TV all day, maybe?
No ... I struggle. It’s really strange, because after the F1 season, the first three days, I am a nightmare. I’m running around, like “I gotta do something, I gotta do something”. But after three days, I relax more. I can lie on a beach for a couple of hours. But that’s it. I need to get to a gym, I need to get on a bike, I need to do something.
Pilates is something a lot of drivers do now to stay in shape. What about you?
No, I do yoga with my girlfriend (Japanese-Argentine model Jessica Michibata), which is very frustrating because she’s very flexible and I’m not. She’s been doing it for about 15 years.
But for me, the most relaxing thing for me is to go cycling. I spend a lot of time in the south of France, where there are some very beautiful hills and mountains. That’s the best place to relax, for me to think about all I’ve achieved, and what I want to achieve, and what I need to do to achieve it.
So for me, the most relaxing thing is to be on a pushbike, which is crazy.
The days of the devil-may-care driver seem to be over...
I think it’s different. There are a lot of companies sponsoring these teams, so drivers act in a different way these days.
You’ve got to be careful, because you are not only speaking for yourself, you’re speaking for several hundred people within the team and the sponsors also. You’ve got to be a little bit careful and be grown-up about it.
It’s difficult sometimes, when emotions are running high, but you’ve got to control yourself. Maybe in the past, they were a bit more outspoken, but I don’t think you can win - if you’re outspoken, you’re wrong. If you’re not, you’re wrong as well. I think it’s best to just be yourself, and try to control what you say.
Are the drivers similarly becoming more careful and clinical behind the wheel?
Oh, definitely not. There’s still some great racing going on. We are on the limit the whole time, wheel-to-wheel. I think maybe we’re getting better at judging situations now.
For me, fighting with Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, racing wheel-to-wheel, it’s such a buzz. We’ve got such mutual respect.
Sometimes it goes wrong, and you touch wheels and you crash. But most of the time, you’re racing within centimetres. And you never touch. For me, that’s one of the biggest buzzes in F1, having a race with someone who has achieved like those guys, and knowing that you’re not going to give each other a centimetre when it comes to a corner, but you both come out of the corner, and you don’t touch. It is amazing.
Formula One is such a glamorous sport. How do you stay grounded and not get carried away?
Being in the sport for so many years, you realise that you need a good group of people around you. It’s not something I set out to do. It just happened naturally.
When I started in the sport, I always thought, “I need to be 100% focused, I need to do this on my own”. After Formula One, I’ll have a look back, and think of what I’ve achieved with my friends and family.
But this sport, it is your life. Everything I do in life these days is about trying to be a better driver, so you’ve got to enjoy the good times and the bad times with your family and friends, and live in the moment. You don’t think about the future.
That’s why I always have my friends and family around as much as I can. I really enjoy that. When you win a race, to embrace your old boy, your mum, or your girlfriend, it means so much.
And also when you have a really bad day, they can pick you up and remind you of the good days.