a day ago
Jenson Button: I am retiring from full-time racing after this season
There may not be a better chance for Jenson Button to add his name to the prestigious winners' list of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he starts Saturday's gruelling race from the front row. And, it turns out, this may be his last chance.
Twenty-seven years after Button won the British Formula Ford Championship, the first title of an illustrious career that took him to the top of the sport, the 45-year-old is finally ready to start easing back.
'I've got so many things going on and I just can't fit it all in,' Button tells Telegraph Sport from the Circuit de la Sarthe, where he will launch his fourth attempt to win Le Mans. 'Something's got to give.'
Now married to former model Brittny Ward, Button has two children at home to worry about, son Hendrix, five, and their daughter Lenny, four. The family live in California, but Button's racing commitments and ambassadorial roles still take him all over the world. With family now coming first, Button is ready to wind it down.
'Next year, I'll probably take a slight back step in terms of I won't be doing a full season,' he says in what feels like a mini-retirement. 'I've got so many things going on and I just can't fit it all in. You know, I've had a fun career and hopefully the next five races this year are going to be awesome and we're going to end on a high.
'It's very unlikely I'll do a full season next year just because of timing. I definitely want to be racing in certain things here and there. I just can't put as much time as needed to one side for racing. You know, kids and life, it's too busy this year.'
After leaving Formula One behind nine years ago – apart from a brief Monaco Grand Prix cameo in 2017 – many would have thought Button had retired into the luxuries that being a world champion affords later in life. But that assumption could not be further from reality.
Button has become a motorsport nomad, a driver touring the globe in pursuit of the greatest challenges on offer behind the wheel. There was Super GT in Japan, his 2018 Le Mans debut and a foray into German sports cars, DTM. There has been British GT, Extreme E – think high-speed off-roading but on eco-friendly and sustainable fuels – and even Nascar, which culminated in the decision to bring one of the hulking Chevrolet Camaros across the Atlantic and race it here on this track in 2023.
But in all that time, one thing regularly evaded Button: winning. The 2009 F1 world champion managed to put together a full season of Super GT in 2018 that led to him securing the championship, but remarkably he has not stood on the top step of the podium for almost seven years.
So Button made the decision at the end of 2023 that he needed to settle down and find a permanent home. A nomad no more, the World Endurance Championship – and 25-year Le Mans veterans Team Jota– was his new home.
'I've been all over the place, I've been on the Mobil 1 journey,' he says, having partnered with the motor oil brand for more than two decades. 'It's been a hell of a journey, a lot of great experiences, but the problem is when you're jumping into something, you're not getting the best of yourself.
'When you do one or two races, you're racing against the guys that are the best in the business in that category. You're never going to beat them. So I was like, you know what, I need to do a full season of racing. And last year was an amazing first year to be with Jota, which is a private team, a lot less pressure leading into this year racing with a manufacturer.'
Button's unveiling by Jota last year kicked up a stir, with the team unveiling two star-studded line-ups to drive their Porsche hypercar campaign. However, the chance to drive with manufacturer support led the team to switch this year to Cadillac, a move that could pay off handsomely if qualifying was anything to go by.
The Jota Cadillacs will start first and second at 3pm on Saturday, leading the thoroughbred field of 62 cars into turn one with the front row locked out. 'There was unbelievable emotion by the whole team, so much adrenalin,' Button says. 'Some might say it is just qualifying, but qualifying in Le Mans is very special and also, because this is the first year of being a manufacturer team with Cadillac, it's a massive deal. And the front row as well, it's insane. Everyone's very happy, so proud of the team.
'We've had an up-and-down week. It's been difficult at times. There's been a lot of emotion flying around, some loud voices in the car. So it's lovely to come away with the one-two.'
When it comes to a 24-hour race, qualifying is barely the battle, let alone the war. Button and his team-mates will need to fend off the fast Ferraris and Alpines, which look to have a notable straight-line advantage, while the next two rows of the grid will be filled by Porsche and BMW, who both had opportunities to beat Cadillac to pole. At least a four-horse race beckons, and that is without considering five-time winners Toyota.
But the Cadillac offering looks a mighty proposition. As well as two separate entries by Wayne Taylor Racing and American Express Racing Whelan, the team look poised for an assault on what would be a first Le Mans top-class victory. The tears of success were already flowing on Thursday night, when Britain's Alex Lynn put the No 12 Jota Cadillac on pole position, ending a year's worth of heartache.
'It was special,' Lynn tells Telegraph Sport. 'Last year I qualified second, only one-10th [of a second] off. That hurt a lot because I thought the lap I did last year was really good. And to have someone beat it, it just spurred me on.'
Unlike Button, Lynn was not so lucky in his pursuit of F1. Having made it to the Williams F1 development driver role, Lynn abandoned his dream and instead carved out a new chapter in WEC and Formula E, the all-electric single-seater series. But he has tasted success winning the Le Mans GTE Pro class in 2020 and standing on the podium two years ago with Cadillac. He has carved out a reputation as being one of the fastest drivers on the grid, and it all comes down to the desire to prove himself as 'Mr Hyperpole'.
'There hasn't really been a day in the last 12 months that I haven't thought about going one better,' he says. 'So actually Thursday night was a lot about redemption for me and wanting to feel that special feeling and being the fastest around Le Mans.
'There is an ego part of that. You want to be the one alone to stand out, but it is a huge team effort and I'm extremely privileged to be the one to be entrusted to deliver the performance when it matters.'
At 31, Lynn is 14 years Button's junior and may still have his best racing years ahead of him. That is no longer the case for Button, who wants to go out on a high this year before easing back.
'I love my racing. I always will,' he says. 'I still do historic racing, the Goodwood Revival where I'm racing my C-type Jaguar [that was raced by Juan Manuel Fangio] and my E-type Jaguar. I'm racing in Rolex Reunion, in Laguna Seca in August. So there's so many little things I'm doing outside of the full racing season as well, because I just love driving.
'That probably will be it. Maybe a few other big races and I'd love to do Bathurst one year, maybe Daytona again and then I'd love to do some more cup races in Nascar. There's lots of fun things to do. This year is an important year for me.'
