This will be my last professional race - Button

Jenson Button says next weekend's 8 Hours of Bahrain race will be the last of his professional career.

The 45-year-old has been racing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) for the past two seasons with Team Jota.

Button won the Formula 1 world title with Brawn in 2009 and retired from F1 in 2016 having contested 306 races across 18 years and won 15 Grands Prix.

He has since been racing in various disciplines including the endurance of Le Mans, supercars, Extreme E and rallycross.

"This will be my last race, 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," Button told BBC Radio Somerset.

The British driver said his decision was not difficult as he did not have the time to commit to another season in WEC, especially with a young family.

"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," Button said.

"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," he added.

"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."

While Button is leaving professional racing, he still aims to compete for fun in his own classic cars when he can "pick and choose" what he does.

"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."