Winning makes Jenson feel a lot younger

LIKE Brad Pitt's extraordinary Benjamin Button, Formula One's top man of the moment is growing younger by the week. Or at least that is how he feels.

Jenson Button, whose birth date shows he was 29 in January, is not saying anything just yet, but if he goes on winning, he could be celebrating like a teenager at the end of the year.

Four victories in the opening five races have lifted the likeable Briton clear of his Brawn GP team-mate and nearest rival Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the drivers' world championship.

And that, he says, is just for starters. "I'm in a good position right now," he said. "I've been in Formula One now for nine years - so I have the experience.

"And now I've got a car that I can challenge for race wins with and still have the excitement. I don't feel 29 at all - I feel a lot younger. It must be something to do with winning, mustn't it?"

Button was still a teenager when he won his ticket to become a F1 driver by out-pacing rival drivers in a 'shoot out' for a seat with the Williams team a decade ago.

He arrived as a young talent with great enthusiasm - for a fast life on and off the track.

Now, after years of growing wiser, he has learned to temper his approach to the job and emerged as a fine driver and a popular one, too. "I haven't really changed," he said. "I've just learned a few things and gained a lot of experience."

A broad smile, as often, fills his face. Already, as ever, the paddock is talking of the title and of next year. Button, however, is keeping his feet firmly stuck in the current day, week and month. And he has no intention of hurrying into any trouble.

"We all agree in the team," he said. "It is too soon to run away with anything. You can't start thinking about the championship but you've got to take every race as it comes and take the best out of what we have at every race we go to. We've got to be up there challenging for the win every time.

"That is what it is about. And remember - you can have one reliability issue and you've lost 10 points. It can all change and turn around so quickly. We've seen it many times, especially between Michael (Schumacher) and Fernando (Alonso) back in 2006.

"You have to be fighting for a win at every race you go to. If I didn't do that in Bahrain, for example, we probably would've finished second or third."