Why F1 World Champion Jenson Button Feels 'Liberated' Hanging Up His Helmet
Halfway through 2025, Jenson Button realized he was done.
The Briton, 46, announced last fall that he'd retire from professional racing after the World Endurance Championship's season finale in Bahrain, which took place in early November 2025. The thought of retiring initially crossed his mind "halfway through last year," Button told The Athletic.
His life had drastically changed in recent years, with a five-year-old and a six-year-old at home. Button competed in the WEC for the Cadillac Hertz Team Jota team.
"I was like, 'You know what? This is great and all. But I feel that I’ve spent too much time away from home,'" the 2009 Formula 1 world champion explained. "And to be fair to the team as well, I felt that I couldn’t give as much as they needed in the following years. I thought it was the best thing to step away, let someone else jump in that seat and be competitive, who doesn’t have a wife and kids.
"Life becomes a lot busier when you have a family. So it was the right time, and I am very happy that I made the call."
Button's new life chapter begins this year, with a return of sorts to a partner that he knows well: Honda, as he becomes Aston Martin’s new team ambassador. Honda is now supplying Aston Martin with F1 engines.
Button's racing career spans over three decades, dating back to when he won three British Open Kart Championships as a kid and eventually advanced to single-seaters in 1998. Two years later, he made his F1 debut, with Williams.
After several years in the F1 pack, Button took a breakthrough win in 2006 while driving for the Honda works team. But the auto manufacturer left the sport and sold the squad to its team boss, Ross Brawn ahead of 2009. This was the biggest year of Button’s career, as he won the F1 world championship for the rebranded Brawn GP team that season.
The Briton had other memorable moments throughout his 18 seasons in F1 — including his mega last-to-first victory at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. But his chapter in the pinnacle of motorsport ended with less success, his final win coming in 2012 with McLaren.
He stayed with the team throughout its tricky renewed partnership with Honda — which returned to F1 as an engine supplier in 2015 — before leaving the sport at the end of the 2016 season. Button then made a one-off appearance at the Monaco GP a year later, replacing Fernando Alonso when the Spaniard raced in the Indy 500.
Button’s F1 career ended with one world title, 15 grands prix victories and 50 podium finishes. But he wasn’t done competing. He went on to pursue other racing opportunities, including three NASCAR Cup Series races in 2023, Super GT (where he was reunited with Honda and won in 2018), and WEC to name a few. He competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours four times, as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Part of why Button knew it was finally time to walk away from the driver’s seat and hang up his helmet was because he simply did "not (have) enough time to give to it."
"I’ve had a great career. I’ve loved it, but I want more time with my family, first of all, the most important thing in the world," Button said. "But also, there are so many great opportunities around Formula 1 at the moment. This sport is forever growing."
That final weekend in Bahrain was one that Button described as "very emotional" given the significance of what was to come after the checkered flag.
"It wasn’t like I was stepping away from the category to go and do something else. That was it. Game over. This is it — the last race," he said. "So, the team were fantastic. Jota, all my teammates. I crossed the finish line, and I didn’t feel like I had made the wrong choice. I felt liberated a little bit, I would say, because the next chapter of my life is going to be just as exciting as the previous."
Button hasn’t strayed too far from F1 in recent years, as he became a notable pundit on Sky Sports’ F1 broadcasts – so much so that he is recognized for this work when he’s home in the United States. But the only place where he’ll be stopped, Button said, is in the grocery store.
"It’s like a regular thing, and most of the time — this is the funniest bit — it’s forgetting the 17 years I spent in Formula 1. It’s 'Jenson, I love your commentary. You’re a really good pundit.' I’m like, 'Dude, what about those 17 years, the bit I was really passionate about?'
"‘Oh yeah, we like that as well. That was great. Not that we’ve seen it.’"
His projects from 2026 will expand to include a new role, as Button becomes a team ambassador for Aston Martin’s F1 squad.
It’s a multi-year agreement between Aston Martin and Button, and according to the news release, Button "will support the team’s media, partner and commercial programs as Formula 1 prepares to enter a defining new era." F1’s car design technical regulations were overhauled heading into the 2026 campaign, changing nearly every aspect of the car from the engine to its fuel, as well as introducing aerodynamics and car shape, size and weight.
Jenson Button on his way to clinching the 2009 F1 world title at the 2009 Brazilian GP (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Honda will be Aston Martin’s works partner from 2026, supplying the team with the new generation of engines. But Honda isn’t Button’s only connection to the team. He’ll be reunited with former teammate Alonso, 10 years after their time working together at McLaren in 2015 and 2016 ended.
"I won’t be telling (Alonso and Lance Stroll, Aston Martin’s other racer) how to drive. They know how to do that bit. But I think over race weekends, I’ll be spending a lot of time with sponsors, partners, and probably lifting the load a little bit from the guys that really need to concentrate on driving," Button said.
"This year is going to be an intense season with everything being new within the team, and getting to grips with how to drive this car. The power unit is very different, with the power output but also how it produces power (with increased electrical energy) and also when the batteries run out of charge. It’s something very different.
"Basically, the drivers have to think on their feet a little bit more, rather than just knowing what’s going to happen. It’s living in the moment, which is really exciting."
For Aston Martin, this season will also feature the first car designed by legendary F1 engineer Adrian Newey, who spent 19 years with Red Bull before joining Aston Martin last year. He’s the most successful F1 car designer in F1 history, and as part of a management reshuffle announced late last season, Newey will be Aston Martin’s team principal starting from 2026.
The intrigue and stakes are high at the team. As Button has watched Aston Martin grow over the years from the outside, he could tell "how serious they are about being competitive in Formula 1." And this shift in the regulations provides the team with a clean sheet, from a competition standpoint, to make good on its potential and starting winning races.
"It is a great time to really show what you can do," Button said. "I don’t think it’s a one-year thing here at Aston Martin. It’s definitely going to be over the next few years, but the fight back to the front is definitely there and alive. With having Honda as partners in the team, as the works team, I see no reason that that won’t happen."
