Jenson Button confirmed on Wednesday that he will end his professional racing career after the 8 Hours of Bahrain in November, the FIA World Endurance Championship season finale. The 45-year-old British driver famously won the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship during Brawn GP’s fairy-tale 2009 season. Button moved into sports car racing after retiring from F1 in 2016 and spent the last two seasons with Hertz Team Jota in WEC’s Hypercar class.
Button still enjoyed racing, but he could no longer commit to the all-consuming effort of a top-class endurance program. He was no stranger to the track after leaving F1. Button raced in Japan’s Super GT with Team Kunimitsu for two seasons. He briefly became a NASCAR road course ringer while with the Garage 56 program and racing a modified Cup Series Camaro stock car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Button explained why now was the time to retire in an interview with BBC Radio Somerset:
“I’ve really enjoyed my time with Jota in WEC but my life has got way too busy and it’s not fair on the team or on myself to go into 2026 and think that I’m going to have enough time for it.”
“My kids are four and six and you’re away for a week and you miss so much, you don’t get this time back. I feel like I’ve missed a lot the last couple of years, which has been fine because I knew that would happen, but I’m not willing to do that again for another season.”
Button was Britain’s first 21st century F1 young gun
Britain isn’t typically a country desperate for young F1 talent, especially now with George Russell, Lando Norris and Oliver Bearman seemingly set for lengthy careers in the world championship. At the turn of the 21st century, Button was the new hotshot in the Grand Prix paddock. He soared up the ranks, reaching Formula 1 in his third season of racing cars at the age of 20. The 1998 British Formula Ford champion suited up for Williams in 2000, replacing two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi.
Despite becoming F1’s youngest-ever points scorer, Williams announced partway through the season that Button would be replaced by another CART champion, Juan Pablo Montoya. However, Sir Frank didn’t terminate Button’s contract. He was loaned out to Benetton, where team boss Flavio Briatore labeled the British driver as a “playboy” to maneuver his chosen wunderkind, Fernando Alonso, into the team.
Button saw the highs and lows of racing at Brackley
BAR-Honda would be the next and most consequential stop in Button’s F1 career after joining the team in 2003. He would finish 3rd in the championship after securing 10 podium finishes over the 18-race season. However, his maiden victory would come in the wet 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix after BAR became the Honda factory team. Honda would leave F1 in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and sold the operation to team principal Ross Brawn for a single British pound.
Brawn GP arrived at the 2009 preseason testing with a dominant white and neon yellow machine. The rest was history. Button and his unsponsored car won six of the first seven races en route to him winning the world championship. Mercedes would take over Brawn GP while the reigning champion joined McLaren to partner with Lewis Hamilton and eventually Fernando Alonso. Button’s final F1 appearance would be in the 2017 Monaco, substituting for Alonso while he raced in the Indianapolis 500. In one of his last acts, he jokingly threatened to pee in the Spaniard’s seat 14 years after he stole his seat at Renault. I hope Jenson has as much fun in retirement as he did while racing.
