Jenson Button to retire from professional racing after 2025

Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula 1 world champion, said he will step away from professional racing at the end of 2025 and ruled out returning to the Le Mans 24 Hours for a one-off appearance, citing the growing complexity of World Endurance Championship Hypercars. Button, who joined the Hypercar field with Jota’s customer Porsche before moving into Cadillac’s factory programme for 2025, is scheduled to make what is expected to be his final professional start in Japan this weekend at the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Button told reporters that modern Hypercars demand full-season commitment to understand intricate car systems and race operations, a task he said becomes harder with age. "If you want to race in endurance you have got to be in it the whole time," he said. "You need to have learnt what is happening with the car, the systems. Every time I get in the car there is something different and new learning again." He added that jumping into endurance machinery intermittently, as for a single Le Mans outing, is not something he wants to pursue.

Earlier statements this year had suggested Button would not retire completely but would scale back, expecting to race "something" in 2026 without...