Jenson Button has announced his retirement from racing. The 8 Hours of Bahrain, scheduled for the second weekend in November, will be his final race as a professional driver. After a stellar career, the 2009 world champion wants to spend more time with his family. Button raced in the premier class from 2000 to 2016 and has been active for Team Jota in the WEC for the past two years.
In an interview with BBC Radio, Button announced his retirement this week. “This will be my last race,” said the 45-year-old Briton about the 8 Hours of Bahrain. “I’ve always enjoyed Bahrain; I think it’s a fun circuit and I’m going to enjoy it as much as possible, because this is the end of my professional racing career,” he added. The decision stems from Button’s desire to spend more time with his family.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Jota in the WEC, but my life has simply become too busy,” he explained. “It’s not fair to the team or to myself to go into 2026 thinking I will have enough time left. My children are four and six; in racing, you’re away from home for a week – you miss so much, and you never get that time back. I feel like I’ve missed a lot over the past few years. That was fine – I knew that would happen – but I’m not willing to do that for another season.”
Racing with Classics
Although Button has retired from professional racing, he remains active in motorsports – albeit in a more relaxed manner. “I have classic cars that I love to race,” he revealed. “I find it a fun challenge because they are my own cars – cars that I own. I love the mechanical aspect. It’s very different from the cars I raced in the WEC and Formula 1. You are really connected to it, which I think is great. Heel-and-toe, choosing the right gear, no aerodynamics – it’s all purely mechanical.”
After a successful career in the junior classes, Button made his Formula 1 debut with Williams in 2000. From 2004, he was considered a top driver when he finished third in the world championship for BAR Honda, behind the dominant Ferraris. His first victory came during the Hungarian GP in 2006; in soaking wet conditions, he crossed the finish line with a lead of more than thirty seconds. In 2009, he won his first and only world title with Brawn GP. With the help of clever technical innovations, Button won six of the first seven Grands Prix. After this world championship, he served as a McLaren driver for seven years before retiring from Formula 1 in 2016. Later, he made a name for himself in the WEC and Japanese Super GT. He is also a popular analyst for Sky Sports.
