Jenson Button has announced the end of his motorsport career—the 2009 Formula 1 world champion will drive his last race in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Jenson Button retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2016 season, and nine years later, the 2009 world champion is now calling it quits for good. The 45-year-old has confirmed that the final race of the 2025 WEC season in Bahrain will be his last professional car race.
“This will be my last race. I’ve always liked Bahrain, I think it’s a great track, and I’m going to enjoy it as much as possible because it marks the end of my professional racing career,” Button revealed in an interview with the BBC.
He said he “really enjoyed” his time in the World Endurance Championship, but emphasized that “my life has become far too hectic, and it wouldn’t be fair to the team or myself to continue until 2026 and believe that I’ll have enough time for it.”
After the end of his Formula 1 career, Button made a one-off return to the premier class in 2017 as a replacement for Fernando Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix. The Brit has also made guest appearances in numerous other series since then.
In recent years, he has competed in Extreme E, the NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA, and the DTM, among others. He has also completed several full seasons in the Japanese Super GT series and, most recently, in the WEC.
After two years with Jota-Cadillac, he is now calling it quits with the World Endurance Championship—and with professional motorsport in general. “My children are four and six years old, and when you’re away for a week, you miss so much that you can never get that time back,” Button explains.
“I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot in recent years, but that was okay because I knew it was going to happen. But I’m not prepared to do that for another season,” explains the long-time Formula 1 driver.
Button would like to continue driving in occasional races in the future, but he reveals that these will be more likely to involve “historic cars.” He is turning his back on motorsport at a professional level.
Button entered Formula 1 with Williams in the 2000 season and later drove for Benetton, Renault, BAR (later Honda and Brawn), and McLaren. He won a total of 15 races and celebrated his greatest success in 2009 when he became world champion with Brawn.
He has remained connected to the premier class even after the end of his active career. Among other things, he regularly works as an expert for Sky, and in 2021 he signed a contract as a consultant with Williams.
Button’s last professional race, the Bahrain 8-Hour, will take place on November 8.
