TREMAYNE: He’s super-quick, likeable and a worthy World Champion – Will Button’s glorious racing career finish with one last win?

Jenson Button’s announcement that he will retire from professional motor racing after this weekend’s Bahrain 8 Hours brought a smile to my face and a flood of (mainly) happy memories.

We first met in 1998 in David Kennedy’s Grand Prix Racewear business near the big roundabout in Chiswick, when my elder son Tom and I were buying some racegear.

Jens was racing in Formula Ford with our mate Keith Sutton’s business name emblazoned in orange on the side of his white Haywood Racing Mygale. And, of course, he was shy, just like Martin Brundle and Markie Blundell were when we first met. Yes, I know, hard to believe now.