Revisited: F1 driver escapes serious injury after collision with bird

16 February 2000, 25 years to the day. A white Williams F1 car hurtled around the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa.

It was seven years since the championship last raced there, but a test session, with which an F1 career depends, was underway.

The driver behind the wheel had just two days of running to earn his FIA super licence for the season ahead. The driver in question: Jenson Button.

Whilst the then-20-year-old would go on to become an F1 champion, he certainly ruffled some feathers early into his career. Branded a 'playboy' by some, Williams' last F1 drivers' champion, Jacques Villeneuve, famously said Button belonged in boy band as opposed to the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport.

And there were some missteps along the way, as well. With his management having already turned down offers from McLaren and Prost, when Button finally got the call from Frank Williams asking if he wanted a seat, he laughed off the encounter as a joke with friends, assuming it was a prank. When his father, John, found out his son had turned the Williams owner down, Button was forced to beg for forgiveness.

And so, the young British driver found himself in South Africa, required by the FIA to complete 300 kilometres of running over two days at full racing speed. This would prove Button could hold his own in F1. Only then would be granted a super licence. 

However, things could have gone badly wrong at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit...

Collision with a bird

On the second day of the test, Button was heading down the track's main straight at 250 kilometres per hour. 

Suddenly, his plexiglass windshield broke, something hit his helmet and there is a dull bang sound from the airbox just above his head.

Button came into the pits to find he had hit a bird at near-full force. What type of bird was impossible to say, there was little left of this poor creature.

Speaking to media, John Button shared an insight into the bloody aftermath. "Jenson can laugh about it now, but at the time it was frightening," he said. "It could have been a lot more serious.

"Jenson's helmet looked as though someone had thrown a bottle of tomato sauce over it. All that was left of the bird was its legs, but they were about seven inches long so it must have been a fair size.

"It's lucky for Jenson that he sits so low down in the car. He is okay and was quite cool about it.

"I was listening on the radio and he just said 'I've just hit a bird' and asked whether he should bring the car back in for it to be checked."

Button escaped serious injury, but is said to have still suffered a slight injury to his neck after the bird grazed him. The incident underlined the inherent dangers facing F1 drivers, even the unexpected ones.

Fortunately for the 2009 F1 drivers' champion, he was successful in attaining his super licence from the FIA. But curiously, Button hit another bird just weeks later, in practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, his F1 debut.

"It's the second time its happened now," he said after the incident. "I saw it coming towards me this time and I ducked which is a bit dangerous. It hit the wing mirror and fell into my lap. It was obviously dead.

"It was bit gory, my overalls were covered in blood again. I went on the radio and said I want to come back in because I've got a bird on my lap. They just laughed."