It's the stuff of movie scripts. Exterior, a race track in middle England, daytime. Pan across from the garages, where expectant space-suited crews stare fixedly at monitors, to the circuit itself where in the cacophony of the snort and whine of 800 horses, a snaking line of sleek, shining machines jockey for position, diving inside then out, looking for the narrowest of passes. Cut to the crowd behind, banners flying, faces rapt, cheers threading up through the roar of engines.

Zoom in. On one face. A teenager, maybe 19-years-old, fresh-faced and anonymous in the midst of 100,000 other fans. But as the voiceover kicks in, he stands out, audibly dreaming of stepping across the boundaries from turf to track. "One day," the script has him whisper, "that will be me."

This weekend, as the credits roll on another British Grand Prix weekend, the anonymous kid will stroll out of the garage, overalls tied in a nonchalant knot at his waist, helmet cradled in the crook of his arm, look out across the sea of faces, the flags and banners bearing his name, and know that he has crossed over. He has become what movies require, a star.

It could never happen. It is make believe, right? Only this time s it's true.

A year ago as Michael Schumacher ploughed straight through Stowe corner to smash into a tyre wall, 19-year-old Jenson Button was watching from the crowd, aghast at the misfortune that had befallen his hero. As a moderately successful but still chronically ill-experienced racing driver, Button had travelled with his father, John, to breathe the same air as his idols, absorb the peculiar energy of Formula One, a heady mix of money, power and passion - the dream he had harboured since he was a small child. For a brief while he was even admitted to the paddock, the heartland of the s sport's glamour, the land of the greed, home of the brave.

As David Coulthard accepted the laurels of victory that afternoon, Button was making his way out of Silverstone, heading home to begin preparation for his next outing in the British Formula Three Championship. A million miles away from the Silverstone paddock. Like turning out for Rushden and Diamonds after being invited to stroll around the pitch at the Nou Camp.

But as in the best movies, the kid gets his break. A third place finish in the F3 series and his winning of the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year award were impressive enough to earn Button a test with McLaren and then Prost - McLaren and Prost, the Formula One teams. He grabbed it with both hands, excelling and even outpacing 35-year-old Jean Alesi, a former Ferrari driver, an idol, a star.

One break turned into another and like a classic western, Button was invited by Williams to battle for the vacant seat at the team - a shootout with Formula 3,000 driver Bruno Junqueira. A horsepower opera. Button won, turned his smoking pistol of a Williams FW22 into the garages and signed on the dotted line. Formula One. In a year, with just 30-odd pro races under his belt, he was driving for the team that had created Damon Hill and David Coulthard, and had turned Nigel Mansell into a champion.

Is he fazed by it? Does it leave him wide-eyed and awestruck? No chance. Surrounded by team members, reporters, television crews and attendants in the Imola paddock two weeks ago, Button came over like a 10-year veteran, sure of his place in the scheme of things.

"I think I got used to it after a couple of months, even after a month of being in the car," he says of his induction into the s world's most exclusive sports club.

"A lot of people said: `Is it a strange feeling going into Formula but Ive One?' but I've done a lot of testing over the winter and you just gradually work into it with the team. "Obviously s it's a bit different when you come to the first grand prix compared to a Formula Three race. s But it's just racing. s It's obviously at a much higher level and re you're racing against the best drivers in the world and the best teams, but s it's still racing. It's difficult to explain. I think it just comes naturally to a driver."

After an early off ended his Melbourne debut, Button proved his nature in Brazil a month ago, grittily battling Interlagos's notorious bumps and anti-clockwise direction to see off the vastly more experienced Jos Verstappen to claim seventh place, which eventually became sixth after the disqualification of David s Coulthard.

Button became the youngest points scorer ever in Formula One. The tabloids went wild. The star born in January had burst into shining flame in Brazil.

Nature, though, does require nurture and the following fortnight it all went pear-shaped at the San Marino Grand Prix where the young driver was left scratching his head at the mysteries of Imola's treacherous kerbs. But such a minor blip is, this weekend, irrelevant. Button, the new darling of British motorsport, the natural heir to the throne of Hill and Mansell, will be centre stage.

"I was completely anonymous there last year," he admits. "I just stood on the Hangar Straight and watched the race and went home. I did get in the paddock, but I t didn't speak to anyone at all. I just wandered around having a look at the motorhomes. It couldn't get any closer to the cars."

Then with the resigned shrug of an old hand and a wave at a television crew zeroing in from across the paddock, he grins: "I somehow don't think that will be the case this year."

Button's ease in the high-octane environment of Formula One is initially disconcerting. A kid barely out of his teens just t shouldn't be so self-possessed, so coolly together. But then you remember that Button made his motorsport debut aged eight, slotted into a kart by his father, a former Rallycross star. He won at his first attempt and having developed a taste for it early, decided he liked it, would settle for nothing less.

In almost all the series he has contested en route to F1 Button has been a winner. From the moment he grew big enough to reach pedals, he has been groomed for this, designed for it. Sudden ascension to the heights of Formula One is, for Button, not unexpected.

He will readily admit it. When asked about an oft-told story that John Button promised him when he was 12 that he would one day be F1 world champion, Button merely half smiles and corrects the legend. "No, I think I was 13, maybe 14," he says. "At that age I thought `yeah, I really want to be in Formula One'. s That's what I was aiming for. Especially when I was 16 and chose between school and motor racing. I don't want to say that I'm confident of being world champion, I mean I'm still learning at this stage. It would be nice in a couple of years, though. We'll wait and see."

First, though, there is the small matter of securing his seat at Williams, a task few in Formula One believe he'll achieve. For waiting in the wings is CART champion Juan Montoya. The Colombian has been a Williams contracted driver for several years but has been negotiating the top flight learning curve in the US, racing for the Chip Ganassi team and claiming last s year's CART title at his first attempt. Another season there will see his contract with Ganassi expire and Williams are almost certain to bring the vastly-talented Colombian back to the F1 fold.

With the equally talented Ralf Schumacher securely installed through engine supplier s BMW's desire to have a German driver at the team, Button is likely to be without a drive come October. He refuses to see it that way, however, convinced the team believes in him.

"If I t perform, don't perform, I don't perform and I shouldn't be in Formula One," he says matter-of-factly.

"I'm learning at the moment, m I'm not at the peak of my career and I've got things to learn. Hopefully that will be in a couple of years. They (Williams) understand that, re they're not putting any pressure on me. I just have to relax and do the best job I can."

And this weekend that means Silverstone and his home grand prix. Button believes he will have some advantage here, having at least raced at the circuit before, which was not the case in his the previous three races.

"I'm really looking for a good result there," he said in Imola.

"The car seems a lot more suited for that circuit and I think I am as well because I've actually driven there in a Formula One car quite a bit and also in Formula Three, so I think it will be a first time you'll see me at the same level as everyone else, because I've done the same amount of testing there as other people. I can't wait."

The wait is now over and the pressure on Button is intense. From team, media, fans. Silverstone is where the hype is supposed to become reality, where the movie climaxes, fading out with the kid spraying champagne and taking bows after a titanic battle. The realisation of the dream. But t fantasy island anymore. The movies the movie is only half way through the first reel, and despite what the scriptwriters may want, the kid is likely to have a lot of trials left before he can stroll triumphantly into the sunset.