F1: Button runs across finishing line in Monaco

For the past few years, those who wanted someone to laugh at in Formula One have picked on Button. Brought in to Formula One in 2000 as the brightest hope of a British champion, the media having already written off David Coulthard, Button - they said - flattered to deceive. And unlike some others on the grid who had at least been Championship contenders - even Champions in major US series - he wasn't a has-been, he was a never-was. Button, they said, was more interested in being a playboy than in knuckling down and being a racing driver.

No matter that his car was not just a dog, it was a two legged dog. With the missing legs on opposite corners. If it had been a pig, it would have been a wild boar - totally wilful and untrainable: Button hinted as much in Saturday's post-qualifying interview. The new car, he says, "listens" when they tell it what to do; the old one "just wouldn't listen to us," he said.

There is not a trace of irritation in Button when he talks of the previous car; there is not a trace of smugness at the journalists fawning over him when those same journos panned his performance despite the fact that he scored more points than any other driver in the last quarter of the 2007 series.

There is, however, obvious joy for himself (of course), his team-mate and the team that has risen from the disaster that was Honda's foray into Formula One.

In fact, the only smug face at BrawnGP is that of Richard Branson who, for some unfathomable reason, gets more camera face-time than Ross Brawn. No other sponsor gets their face on TV at almost every race.

The world has heard the story of Hamilton's rise over and over again: but the fact that Button's father lived in a caravan for a decade taking his son around karting tracks has been largely ignored. The house, someone that knew them said, was like somewhere a couple of students crashed when they weren't out partying. His mechanics and engine builders regarded Button as the most natural talent they had worked with. Later, as Button moved on, people spoke of Hamilton as gifted, and heavily promoted, but not as natural as Button; and Anthony Davidson as the best of the rest.

Of course, Button has moved on since then. Now he lives in Monaco (so does his dad with whom Button shares the spoils of success, two great pals more than father and son), his favourite food and drink (as quoted by Autosport when he joined Williams in 2000) are no longer pasta and orange juice but his favourite hobbies at that time, given as "surfing the internet; computer games" have stood him in good stead in the simulator when that outperformed the bovine cars he was given to drive. In fact, it seems as if the fastest car Button had had until this year was the "company car" BMW he was given when he arrived at Williams - and promptly got fined for speeding in France having never before driven anything that didn't vibrate itself to bits and being totally unaware of the speed he was going.

All that changed this year. And instead of sticking two fingers up at the media who belittled him, Button is showing himself to be the nice man of the sport. And he's backed up by Barrichello who must be the most gracious man in defeat that the sport has ever seen. Unlike at Ferrari where his defeats came at the hands of team orders, at BrawnGP, Rubens is being beaten where it counts - on the track. And for now, at least, he's relishing the honest competition. Following qualifying in Monaco, he said that he had done the perfect lap; that there was nothing more he could have done; nowhere he could see improvement. And he just didn't know where Button had squeezed a fraction of a second more. After every race, the pair stand with their arms around each other. For the first time in a long time Formula One is watching a team at work.

And so, why did Button run down the main straight in Monaco having taken a famous victory with his team mate second and sulky Räikkönen third? It was simple: unlike every other Grand Prix, the top three finishers in Monaco drive to a podium populated with the local Royal family and park, usually somewhat untidily, at what seems to be their front door.

Button, beside himself with delight at winning the Monaco GP forgot, and drove into the parc fermé with the also rans. So he ran - more than jogging but less than sprinting the full length of the start-finish straight, helmet and head-support still on, to the never-bofore seen delight and applause of the crowd; and - more tellingly - to the outstretched hands of mechanics from every team who reached through the crash-netting to shake hands with him as he ran. Not just one or two: every team. And if he missed a hand as he ran, he turned back to shake it.

He forgot to remove his cap before Royalty (but did remember to remove it for the national anthem - an automatic reaction for racing drivers, or at least those who have ever made it to a decent podium.

The man that has been so maligned by the media for so long is so humbled by the achievements of his team, despite all of their problems, and so delighted to be doing what he was born to do, was overwhelmed by the simple fact of winning the race that all aspiring motor racers want to win that he forgot where to park his car, forgot to take his cap off and could barely contain his need to jiggle and jump as he met his, albeit Royal, neighbours as he has done on several occasions - several occasions with other reasons - before.

That's the measure of the man the press wrote off as an arrogant, lazy, partying loser.

The measure of a man who, with a half-smile admitted to lying last week when he said that Monaco is just another race and nothing special. That was, he said, his way of trying to take the pressure off. It was a pressure that few seem to notice: but he knows it's there: when the car would not work on Thursday, he admits, he didn't want to race. This is the only time there has been a hint of the despair that he felt last year, going out every race to fight a car that was outclassed by everything else on the grid but still with a smile and a happy quote for those who bothered to ask how it went.

It's the measure of one who has won five out of the first six grands prix this year and who was third in the one he didn't win.

For those who find this remarkable, it somehow seems like there's just been a five year gap - for in 2004, Button gained points in every race he finished in a BAR that not many people rated. And under the system that Ecclestone now wants to change, that consistency brought him to third in the Championship. Under Ecclesone's dubious plans to award the championship to the driver with the most wins, Button's five out of a possible 17 this year is already looking good; and with 51 points in the championship, and the apparently resurgent Ferraris starting to gather points, too (albeit Räikkönen being their top scorer with 9 points so far) his lead is comfortable although, this being motor racing, not safe,