- JButton says self-doubt never leaves elite athletes, not even world champions.
- Federer told Button that losing 75% of his matches still counts as a great record.
- Button explains why arrogance in MotoGP riders is often something else entirely.
Jenson Button believes self-doubt is a permanent fixture inside every elite athlete, even those who have reached the very top of their sport.
The 2009 Formula 1 world champion made the observation on the F1 Beyond The Grid podcast, speaking with host Tom Clarkson. He drew on conversations with Roger Federer and experiences from his own 18-year F1 career to make his case.
Button pointed to a radio exchange from the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix as his clearest example.
Lewis Hamilton, racing for Ferrari, finished fifth and asked his engineer Riccardo Adami on the cool-down lap whether he had done something wrong.
The team had not responded to Hamilton’s earlier message of thanks, though Ferrari principal Frederic Vasseur later said the silence was down to a pre-agreed communication protocol used on tricky sections of the circuit.
Button was not interested in the protocol. He was interested in what the moment revealed.
“You’re a seven-time world champion,” he said on the podcast. “The confidence you should have is out of this world, but insecurities creep in.”
Losing more than you win
Button’s explanation for why those insecurities exist is rooted in numbers. Even the most decorated athletes in history have lost far more than they have won.
He recalled a conversation with Roger Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam champion, who told him that losing roughly 75% of his matches still represented an outstanding career record.
“I spoke to Roger Federer last year about sport and the mental side of it, and he said, ‘You’ve got to think, I’m the most successful tennis player ever, and I lost 75% of my matches, and that’s a great record’,” Button said.
Button applied the same logic to F1. He won 15 of his 307 grands prix starts. Hamilton’s win rate sits at around 27%, meaning he has not won approximately three-quarters of his races.
“In F1, I raced 300 grands prix, I won 15,” Button said. “So I lost 285 races.” He argued that this relentless exposure to defeat is what gradually hollows out a driver’s confidence, even across a championship-winning career.
Schumacher, Verstappen, and the mask of arrogance
Button extended the point to Michael Schumacher, the sport’s other seven-time champion, saying without hesitation that Schumacher would have dealt with the same self-doubt.
He said the same about Max Verstappen.
He then shifted attention to the way some drivers in F1 and MotoGP present themselves publicly.
“There are certain drivers or riders in MotoGP that I’ve thought, ‘He comes across as a bit arrogant’, but it’s not,” Button said. “They just don’t want to let anyone in.”
He argued that what often reads as coldness or arrogance in elite motorsport is actually a controlled public front. Drivers build it to protect themselves from an environment where showing vulnerability is seen as dangerous.
The trouble, Button said, is that keeping people out also prevents those insecurities from ever being resolved.
Norris is leading the way
Button pointed to reigning world champion Lando Norris as a sign that the culture is slowly shifting.
Norris has spoken openly about mental health over the past few years, drawing criticism in some quarters for being too soft. Button pushed back on that framing directly.
“That’s what amazed me with Lando, how he’s been outspoken over the last couple of years on mental health,” he said. “It’s really good, and I think that gives you a lot of strength.”
Button connected Norris’s openness to a wider problem he sees in the sport. Drivers who cannot speak about their struggles, he argued, end up trapped in a cycle of self-criticism.
He described how a poor qualifying session can leave even a talented driver convinced they are not good enough, regardless of what they have achieved before.
“You forget what you’ve achieved, and you just think about that last session,” he said.
Button also reflected on his own path through those doubts. He credited his former Brawn GP boss Ross Brawn’s steady, calm presence as helpful on difficult days.
But he was clear that no one else could do the internal work for him. “I don’t really think that anyone can make you a better racing driver,” he said. “It’s down to yourself to sort out your demons.”
