'Still At My Best': Button Makes Surprising Return To Competitive Racing Aged 43
F1Saturday, 16 December 2023 at 03:00
Former F1 World Champion Jenson Button will return back to competitive season racing in 2024.
The British driver won his first and only F1 World Championship in 2009 with Brawn GP, and since leaving Formula One in 2016, he did not complete many more races.
In 2018, Button won the Super GT series with Naoki Yamamoto, and he took part in 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same year with SMP Racing, before driving with the team also in the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, during which he participated only in four races.
But now, the 43-year-old driver is set to complete another full season, as he will be racing a Jota Porsche 963 in the World Endurance Championship. Speaking to BBC, he confirmed his excitement.
"I'm still at my best. I have a pass from the wife. I'm a better person when I'm racing. In F1 cars, the tech is through the roof and it's the pinnacle of aero[dynamic design], and they are the best teams in world."
For the British driver, who often comments on Formula One, driving hypercars won't be a new experience, but doing it competitively over one full season will be a new experience for him.
"But they are not as technologically advanced as hypercars. LMDH [hypercars] have 38 pages of just what the steering wheel does; there so many switches… so many different things for the same issue."
There's a lot to learn for Button, and he's ready for it. He will be joined by teammates Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen, who will certainly help him to get used to the car very quickly.
"There's lot to learn - it's a staggering amount of stuff and it blows your mind and takes a while to get used to. "It's very clever but very complex, and it takes a different type of driver - you need the skill on track but also you need to be an expert in engineering as well."
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