Formula 1: Playboy Button’s Flee Off To Better Things In Life
May 10, 2008
There is no doubt that Florence did rub a few of the rougher edges off 28-year-old Jenson - she has a history of art degree from Bristol University and while on their F1 travels the couple spent more time in art galleries than nightclubs.
“The thing about our relationship was that we influenced each other in such good ways, “ she says with a pensive expression on her lovely, almost childlike face. (Even now, she is often asked to show ID when she goes into bars or pubs.)
Last year Flee was even credited - by Button’s Honda team - with being a “tactically astute” influence on the young British driver.
One of the few high points in his dismal 2007 season was an eighth place in the French Grand Prix in July - a placing he attributed to a text Florence sent him.
“My missus sent me a text. It was very impressive. She said, ‘It is going to rain and the strategy is vital, ‘ which was pretty hilarious but she was right, “ he commented at a post-race press conference.
“I think that was a bit of a joke, although I did send the text.
“He hadn’t had such a good year and it was raining, but the car was looking all right, and I remember sitting in his motorhome and texting him just before the race.
“I know the engineers and mechanics thought it was brilliant, “ she says, laughing at the memory.
But it’s difficult to see how positively Jenson influenced his “missus” (a term, she says, that all the drivers use for their girlfriends).
The relationship did, of course, offer the young model publicity, but Florence - a descendant of the seventh Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade - never wanted to be an It-girl and is very wary of the cult of celebrity.
