Hulkenberg dropped for 2011

[Williamsfan]

Button first drove for Williams before being 'loaned' to Benetton, but the situation is still the same as you wrote Dare.

Refresh my memory on the Williams-Honda situation ,Williamsfan

Didn't Button have to pay Frank many million dollars to break
his contract?

The whole Button/Williams saga was a farce.  One season Button tried to break his contract with BAR to move to BMW.Williams but the courted rejected it so he signed an agreement for the following season to move to Williams. However if my memory serves me correctly Williams lost BMW and so Button reneged on his deal and yeah, had to pay the money which pretty much enabled the Toyota deal to go through. 

[Dare]

It seems but I could be wrong that Button had one
good year at BAR which became Honda and they were found
to have illegal gas tanks.

[John S]

Yeah I think you are right about the vast majority of drivers having to work their way up Jeri. However there are quite a few other big names who never really drove for other teams before acheiving their WDC crowns, Clark - Lotus, Brabham - Cooper and Phil Hill - Ferrari; they all joined teams that they progressed with to their first title. But apart from Hill at Ferrari you could argue that Clark and Brabham grew with the teams who had also never won a title before. 

More recently Damon Hill also had a pretty easy route, he was signed to Williams as a test driver in 91, then in 92 was unexpectadly lent to the failing Brabham team part way into the season for a few races when the sponsorship of their female driver Giovanna Amati fell through. He moved directly into the the Williams the following year to partner Prost, which I think was the plan all along.