SIR JACKIE STEWART last night led the tributes to new Formula One world champion Jenson Button.

“A big congratulations to Jenson Button, he did everything he had to do today,” Stewart said.

“He picked up nine places from his lowly grid position, he came through to clinch the world championship, it’s always better to get it under your belt.

“I couldn’t be happier for Jenson, it’s 40 years since there’s been a British champion back to back.

“I was that person, I took it over from Graham Hill, he’s now taken it over from Lewis Hamilton. He must be really thrilled.”

Button won six of the first seven races of the season but suffered a dip in form which saw Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel challenge for the title.

But the 29-year-old held his nerve in an incident-packed race.

“He’s had a rocky road,” Stewart added. “But there’s so much more to driving a racing car than steering the wheel and so much more to becoming a world champion rather than just being a racer on its own. You’ve got to choose the right people to be with you.

“I think the disappointments that he’s had earlier in his life and the fact that he hasn’t delivered as so many people expected him to earlier really puts him in a very comfortable position now.

“I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of him and of course of Brawn in the future.”

Motor Sports Association chief executive Colin Hilton added his congratulations.

“Jenson has done a fantastic job this year and we are all delighted for him,” Hilton said.

“For those of us who have followed his career as he came through the ranks of UK motor sport, it was always clear that he had the makings of a future world champion.”