I’m in Cyprus at the moment enjoying a bit of down time and needed to bring some good reading material to help me get away from it all.  I’m not a huge reader myself, unlike my wife who being an English teacher always has her head in a book.  I am quite envious and when I do pick up a good book it’s far more rewarding than watching the TV.  I often find that I don’t have the time when at home and so my reading days are numbered usually to those when I am away.

I picked up a copy of Jenson Buttons autobiography – A Championship Year, being a keen motorsport fan and enjoying the 2009 F1 season this seemed a good choice.  I also find a good autobiography easier to get into than a fiction novel, perhaps I’m just nosey!

So the book – it was an interesting read and I got through it pretty quick, only took a few days lounging by the pool and 5-6 sittings, so it could not of been that bad!  I guess I was a little surprised at the ‘angle’ of the book and expected a bit more about the man himself, instead, barring the first chapter, the book was just a re-run of the entire F1 season from Jenson’s perspective.  It was interesting to see each race from the then Brawn GP team and Drivers perspective, but after 4-5 races the format was starting to get a little tedious.

Having followed the season and the headlines, I knew that Jenson won 6 of the first 7 races so this stage of the book was a little repetitive, the more interesting parts were of course where controversy set in. With Jenson and the Brawn GP team unable to pick up any significant points in the mid – later part of the season, the reasons why the rest of the field caught up and posed a threat to what appeared a ‘dead cert’ for the championship was interesting.  The ‘needle’ that surrounded the team and in-house competition from his team mate Ruben Barrichello also made for an interesting read although often all too short.

There was of course no twist or surprise ending, but of course I knew that, however the book did run out of puff pretty quickly once the final race synopsis was out of the way.  Overall, an interesting read, maybe better to come back to in a few years when the memories are not so fresh in the mind, as is more of a synopsis of the 2009 Formula 1 season, than an autobiography from Jenson Button.   Perhaps I’ll need to read – Jenson Button – ‘My Life on the Formula One Rollercoaster’ to get a bit more insight into the man and not just that one spectacular season!

My rating – 3/5 (although only for the petrolheads – my wife would hate it!)