The hidden technique behind Button’s extraordinary feel for conditions

There’s arguably no other Formula 1 driver with the reputation for such extraordinary feel for conditions and an ultra-smooth driving style as 2009 world champion Jenson Button.But that perception of him can be reductive, as his outwardly smooth approach concealed some incredibly interesting techniques.Tom Stallard, who started as Button’s performance engineer at McLaren and later became his race engineer, explained it as such: “Everyone always said Jenson was the smoothest driver in the world, because they couldn’t see what his feet were doing. He drove like a duck, and his feet under the surface of the water were doing all kinds of things to keep the car balanced, such that he could be smooth with his hands.”Attempting to describe just what that looked like are Edd Straw and Mark Hu …