It is a record to relish: the first back-to-back British winners of a Formula One world championship in 40 years. Not since the heyday of the Sixties - when Formula One was dominated by Jim Clark, Graham Hill, John Surtees and Sir Jackie Stewart - has the nation enjoyed two winning drivers.

But Jenson Button completed the glorious double in Brazil to win his championship a year after Lewis Hamilton’s triumph at the same race. But that has sparked the debate: who is the best driver - Hamilton or Button?

Compare and contrast: one aggressive, daring and a winner from almost the start of his Formula One career; the other, smooth, laconic but determined to win through after a decade of under-achievement.

They simply could not be more different, the youngster from Stevenage in Hertfordshire and the ten-season veteran from Frome in Somerset.

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Multimedia

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• DEBATE: is Button a worthy world champion?

• RACE TRACKER: see how Button shone in Brazil

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LEWIS HAMILTON

Hamilton’s ascent to Formula One was result of the most intensive grooming programme ever seen in the sport. Adopted as a 13-year-old by Ron Dennis, the former team principal at McLaren, Hamilton never had to worry about financing the most important years of his career while McLaren took care of every physical and mental need.

The result was a driver who had no qualms about entering the highest echelons of motor racing. And he was lucky. McLaren have suffered many poor years but Hamilton breezed into a winning car on day one and made the most of it.

But the excitement he brings to the track comes with some fatal flaws. Remember how he drove into the distance in his first season and should have taken the championship with ease, only to collapse when the crucial moments came. It was almost the same story in his title year of 2008 when Felipe Massa won more races and did everything he could to be champion only to be thwarted at the last race by a Toyota driver struggling with his tyres, which allowed Hamilton to slip through in dying seconds of the race to become champion. Not so much a victory drive as a stagger over the line.

There has been much furore along the way, not least the “Liegate” episode at the start of the season, which tarnished Hamilton’s Mr Clean image. That was the closest Hamilton came to cracking because this is a young man so confident in his own ability that he is never deflected by criticism - almost to the point of irritating people.

In many ways, 2009 was the season Hamilton came of age, putting up a series of terrific performances in an unwieldy McLaren. He is still young and has much to learn - but Hamilton will be a star for another decade at least.

JENSON BUTTON

Somerset is a county hardly known for its motor racing talent but the village of Upper Vobster produced Jenson Button. His race through the ranks was less gilded than Hamilton, financed largely by John, his father, and some willing sponsors, but he was no less successful. In fact, he was so good, Formula One teams were swarming around him as a teenager until Sir Frank Williams threw him onto the grid at the age of just 19. It was sink or swim and Button stayed afloat with aplomb in his first season.

But he had Sir Frank and Patrick Head, the wise owls of Formula One, to rely on at Williams. When he was moved on to Benetton and a rotten car, he floundered hopelessly. The money was pouring into his personal bank account, but he was deeply unhappy, reflected in his performances on the track.

It was not until David Richards put an arm around Button and took him to BAR Honda that he prospered again. Button is not like Hamilton; he needs to be loved and his popularity in the paddock is a reflection of the time he takes with everyone he meets. His mechanics and engineers love him and workers at the Brawn GP factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire, adore him. Nobody has a bad word about Button

But he has rarely had a machine capable of taking him to the chequered flag first. The one demonstration of his ability was that first grand prix victory in Hungary in 2006 where Button came from the back of the grid in the rain - a nerveless performance of great calm and assurance when everyone else was struggling with the conditions.

It is little wonder that he has looked nervous at the end of this season with so much at stake. After a decade in the sport and so many disappointments, he was desperate to hang on for the title. Now let us see if a renewed Button will be ready to challenge for the championship again next season.