Formula One star won’t dare drive in Metro Manila

He has driven in the toughest and fastest racetracks of the world. Yet Jenson Button, a rising star in the high-speed firmament of Formula One car racing, wouldn’t dare drive in Metro Manila.

Especially on Fridays.

Button, who is here to serve his last duties for the Mild Seven Renault F1 team this year, had his first taste of this country’s pathetic traffic condition when he was taken to the Makati ShangriLa hotel from the airport upon his arrival last Friday night.

Having rained earlier in the afternoon, the stretch of EDSA from Pasay City to Makati City that night was turned into a virtual parking lot with thousands of cars lined up bumper to bumper and moving at a pace of about five feet a minute.

Button’s police escorts had anticipated the gridlock. To get him to his hotel fast, the two motorcycle-riding cops led the white Ford E150 van Button was riding against oncoming traffic several times. First they countered the flow along Airport Road going to EDSA and again going through a one-way street on the way to Pasong Tamo and Pasay Road.

"Oh my God! I can’t believe it. That car was going straight at us. Unbelievable!" he exclaimed, pointing at a silver gray Honda Civic that never gave an inch to the approaching van as it weaved through traffic along Tramo street.

The young Button, only 22 years old and a native of Sommerset, England, has been driving all his life. He started on a small motorcycle at seven and jumped to a kart at eight. He has conquered all racing events in Europe open to his age and has risen to become Great Britain’s youngest ever Formula One driver and the youngest ever driver in F1 history to score a point.

Yet despite his impressive credentials, Button confessed that he flunked the driver’s licensure test the first time he took it.

The experience along Airport Road reminded him of that day he flunked the test. "I was 17 then and I passed this slow-moving car. There was a car coming on my direction and I saw that there was enough room for me to pass. But the car hit the kerb (sidewalk). It was actually the fault of the driver of that car, but the examiner flunked me," he said.

From that day on, Button always did thing the right way. "I wouldn’t dare drive here," he said matter-of-factly. "I would surely be scared."

Button arrived on an Air France flight from Paris to attend the "XLR8: The Mild Seven F1 Experience" event at The Fort in Fort Bonifacio Global City yesterday.

He flew in wearing a pair of jeans, a green t-shirt, brown leather jacket and a blue Mild Seven F1 cap with his signature and race number (15).

Button was excited to visit Manila, "having heard so many things about the Philippines from friends and relatives in London." He never felt afraid of the peace and order situation. AAnd for one, I love to obviously different places and different culture," he said.

Button was definitely observing everything on the road throughout the 30-minute trip from the airport to the Makati Shangri-La Hotel, He inquired about the stranded passengers on the road. And he turned his head sharply when he saw the jeepney. "What was that? And what is that man doing?" he asked pointing to a "sabit" or a man hanging from the door of the vehicle.

On the way to Pasong Tamo through a one-way street, Jenson shook his head. "Are we going on a one-way road?" he asked. Nobody in the van answered so he repeated his query, this time in a louder voice. "Are we going on a one-way road?" "Yes, Jenson. Why?" asked this writer. ?Fantastic.

"This is my first time to go against a one-way road," he yelled back,

Unbelievable?