Button Makes History

British F1 rookie Jenson Button claimed his first World Championship point in last month’s Brazilian Grand Prix, eclipsing Mexican prodigy Ricardo Rodriguez as the youngest driver to score in the series’ 50-year history.

The 20-year-old Williams newcomer finished seventh but was classified sixth by the exclusion of David Coulthard for a technical infringement.

Rodriguez was two months older than Button when he finished fourth in the 1962 Belgian GP for Ferrari, his third start. Having opened his F 1 career sensationally, on the front row for the illfated ’61 Italian GP, he was touted for stardom. A year later he was killed in practice for the nonchampionship Mexican Grand Prix. MP