Beckham's drive to silence the critics inspires Button

When Jenson Button stares in the mirror every morning, it would be no surprise if he sees the image of a young David Beckham looking back at him.

The similarities are striking. The boyish good looks, the dodgy haircut, the pop singer girlfriend lurking in the background, the great expectations and the criticism piling up like a bad accident when he hasn't lived up to them.

Button goes into Sunday's opening round of the world championship acknowledging there is much he can learn from the way Beckham went on to tackle the doubters and turn most of them into ardent admirers of the way he plays his football and the way he lives his life.

As the only Englishman on the starting grid for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Button also accepts he is under as much pressure to bring honour and glory to his country as Beckham is whenever he pulls on an England shirt.

"David deals with it so well," said the driver with the BAR-Honda team.

"In the past there has been bad press about Beckham, not all of it to do with football and not all of it fair. But that is always going to happen when someone is high profile.

"You just have to hope that there are more people who enjoy watching you play, or drive, than doubt you."

Like Beckham, Button's private life has been under constant scrutiny. And he now concedes that mistakes were made in the way he lived the life of a Formula One star without having first deserved star status-With the Surrey mansion, Ferrarisports car and yacht moored in the Mediterranean came a hectic social diary that saw Button attract as much coverage in Hello magazine as Autosport.

The perception, right or wrong, was of a youngster enjoying a lot of play without putting in the hard graft to justify the champagne image.

Mika Hakkinen, a workaholic rewarded with two world titles for McLaren, remembers those early days well. Writing in F1

Racing magazine, the Finn observed: "He made his Formula One debut in 2000, for Williams, and straight away the British press started calling him 'the next Senna'.

"The problems start when the youngster himself starts believing what they write. He was a beginner, not a superstar, and I'm not sure he understood that straight away."

Perhaps he does now. There are still those pictures on the diary pages of the newspapers - he got engaged to Fame Academy contender Louise Griffiths late last year - but Button now realises he has to strike a balance by making the right kind of headlines on the sports pages.

He said: "You look at Victoria and David together and it's great to see two people in love, right in the thick of it, yet still able to keep a very healthy relationship.

"But one other person I've got so much respect for is Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France winner.

"He has been through so much in his life, he's had it so tough with cancer and the talk of drug-taking. Yet he's coped amazingly. You can learn so much from someone like him."

Button showed typical Armstrong resilience during last year's Monaco Grand Prix meeting when he spent a night in hospital recovering from a frightening crash at 185mph during practice. The manner in which the bruised but battling Button bounced back at the following race in Canada caused the doubters to start rethinking their opinions of him.

Now, going into the new campaign, BAR chief David Richards has so much faith in the 24-year-old that he has promoted him to team leader. And Button has also attracted the right kind of comments from Formula One grandees such as Ron Dennis of McLaren and Sir Frank Williams, who observes his former driver has suddenly "grown up".

Button said: "I'm comfortable with the expectations people have of my performances this season. I had so much pressure on me when I joined Williams at 20 years old and to start with I found that very tough.

"But you learn from your mistakes and I think I'm coping now. It is fair to say I've matured and I'm also more confident. But that only comes with the experience of working with different teams and different cars."

Button claims that he and BAR have "worked our nuts off " over the winter attempting to hone their distinctive red, black and white racer to a state where it can mount a regular challenge for the podium place that has eluded Button.

This will be his fifth season in Formula One, but it should not be forgotten that Nigel Mansell went four seasons without winning his first race.

If the results of pre-season testing are anything to go by, Button could be in contention for that maiden victory as early as this weekend.

"The perception of what I can do is growing," he said. "And as England's only driver this year I know a lot is expected of me.

"I'm grateful for that support, I love it, but I won't be up there with Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill until I start winning races, which is the way it should be.

"To win the championship this year will be very difficult. But to win a race will be possible."

Then the acclaim will be truly deserved. Not so much a case of bend it like Beckham, but round the bend with Button.

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