Jenson Button to race for Jota Porsche in World Endurance Championship next year
- Published
Jota finished a season-high fourth in the Bahrain 8 Hours in October
Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button says he is as good as ever as he prepares to race "mindblowing" hypercars next year when he will be 44.
Button will drive the Jota Porsche 963 in the top hypercar class in the World Endurance Championship, which includes the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
Button says the machinery is "more technologically advanced than F1 cars".
"I'm still at my best. I have a pass from the wife," he added. "I'm a better person when I'm racing."
The Englishman retired from Formula 1 in 2016 but is returning for a full season 15 years after winning his F1 title in 2009.
"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," Button told BBC Sport.
"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 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."
Button is 43 now but turns 44 on 19 January, before the season begins.
A veteran competitor behind the wheel, he contested 306 F1 races across 18 years and has made several guest appearances across motorsport since 2016.
Those have included a one-off at Le Mans this year, but this time he will compete in an eight-race season across Europe, Asia and America.
"Hypercars are the coolest-looking cars ever," said Button. "If I drew a car when I was a kid it would have been a hypercar.
"I used to a watch Le Mans in the 1980s. That team atmosphere is very different to F1, where team-mates are the first person you've got beat; in endurance racing you work with team-mates to develop the car to win races."
Time is now for family man who still has 'the same feeling'
Button's announcement comes as sportscar racing is experiencing a renaissance, with several major car manufacturers returning thanks to recent design rules allowing teams to experiment with performance philosophies, while other series impose strict limits.
Following a period when Toyota were the only top manufacturer in WEC, the 2023 season saw Porsche, Ferrari and Cadillac join Peugeot in a reinvigorated championship, in which Ferrari shocked Le Mans by winning after a 50-year absence.
The 2024 campaign will see Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini also begin hypercar programmes, with Aston Martin joining in 2025.
Button will also race in the American version of WEC - the IMSA Sportscar Championship - for one race at the Daytona 24 Hours in Florida, United States, in late January.
He will drive the WTR Andretti Acura (Honda) GTP prototype.
Button added: "It's still the same as when I first drove a go-kart when I was eight - there's just a bit more going on, but it becomes second nature when you know the systems.
"I'm not quite there yet. But we all love driving and you still control the car with your feet and your hands, and your bum - that hasn't changed, it just looks very different.
"My son's only four and my daughter's just three, so they don't really know. They know I race cars and came to support me at a Nascar race earlier this year, and sat in the car just before I was about to race.
"They both love cars, and it is a lot of time away from home. But they travel with me now and again, which is great, and when I am home, I'm home 100%."
Several big-name drivers have been linked with a return to sportscars - including four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel, who could race for Aston Martin in 2025 after competing for them in F1 at the end of his career.
Mick Schumacher last month signed to drive for Alpine in 2024 - his seven-time F1 champion father Michael began his top-level racing career in sportscars in the legendary Sauber-Mercedes C11.
Lamborghini announced on Thursday their full driver line-up, which includes former F1 drivers Romain Grosjean of France and Russia's Daniil Kvyat.
"I don't know what happens when you get to 50, but I'm very happy with where I am at the moment. I'm still at my best; I do a lot of fitness training. And I broke the Guinness World Record for reactions on a Batak board earlier this year.
"The want is still there, that's the big thing. Look at Fernando Alonso - proof you can still do it at 42 or 43 years old."
Round one of the 2024 FIA WEC season takes place in Doha (Qatar) from 1-2 March.