Former world champion Jenson Button has announced next weekend’s 8 Hours of Bahrain will be the last professional race of his career.
Button, who famously won the F1 title in Brawn GP’s shock 2009 championship season, will sign off his career at the final round of this year’s World Endurance Championship.
“This will be my last race, I’ve always liked Bahrain, I think it’s a fun track, and I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can because this will be the end of my professional racing career,” Button told 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,” he added.
Button was most famous for a Formula 1 career which spanned 18 seasons from his debut in 2000. He finished with one world title and 15 victories from 306 race starts.
After stints with Williams and Renault, Button claimed a breakthrough win at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with Honda — the team that signed him while still named British American Racing.
When Honda abruptly left F1 it was purchased by Ross Brawn and Button beat teammate Rubens Barrichello and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to that year’s championship.
A successful move to McLaren followed, with Button claiming multiple wins as Lewis Hamilton‘s teammate between 2010 and 2012. One of those was his legendary last-to-first win at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, which saw him pass Vettel on the final lap for one of the most memorable individual race victories in the sport’s modern era.
His win at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix was his last and marked the end of an era of success for McLaren, with the team not returning to the top step of the podium until Daniel Ricciardo‘s victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
Button stayed with McLaren through its difficult Honda partnership after 2015, officially stepping away at the end of 2016, only to make a final, one-off appearance at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix when a disgruntled Fernando Alonso was allowed to participate in the Indy 500.
The Englishman has raced in various sports car championships since leaving F1, including WEC, competing at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours four times.
He’s also competed in the American-based IMSA and Germany’s DTM, as well as a one-off appearance in Extreme E.
Button has recently turned to punditry, appearing as a regular guest on British broadcaster Sky Sports F1’s coverage of F1 races.
