Ex-Formula One champion Jenson Button confirms 8 Hours of Bahrain will be final race of professional career
Published 30/10/2025 at 11:25 GMT
Jenson Button will race for the final time next weekend, with the 2009 Formula One world champion confirming the 8 Hours of Bahrain will mark the end of his professional racing career. Button has raced with Cadillac Hertz Team Jota for the last two seasons, but does not have the time to commit to another. He said: "My life has got way too busy and it's not fair on the team or on myself."
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Jenson Button has announced that next weekend’s 8 Hours of Bahrain, live on TNT Sports and discovery+, will be the final professional race of his career.
The 2009 Formula One world champion has been racing with Cadillac Hertz Team Jota during the last two seasons in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
But the 45-year-old admitted he does not have the time to commit to another season, saying his "life has got way too busy", especially given his young family.
"This will be my last race," Button told BBC Radio Somerset. "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.
"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."
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He added: "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 competed in F1 for 18 successive seasons, winning the world title with Brawn in 2009.
Following his retirement from F1 in 2016, he has competed in a number of disciplines, including the 24 hours of Le Mans, supercars, Extreme E and rallycross.
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Button said his retirement from professional racing will allow him to "pick and choose" what he does in the future.
"I've got classic cars I love to race and for me that's exciting because it's mine - a car that I own - and I love the mechanical aspect," he said.
"It's very different to the cars I race in WEC and F1, you're really connected to it which I love, having to heel and toe, getting the gear shift just right, no aero, it's all mechanical."
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