2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button admits he would have left the sport earlier if he could and enjoys an “awesome” life now.
The Briton gave up his seat at the end of 2016 to allow Stoffel Vandoorne to finally get his well-earned promotion at McLaren, but he would stay on in an ambassadorial role and filled in for Fernando Alonso at the Monaco GP, with the Spaniard racing at Indianapolis.
He would retire from that race after colliding with Pascal Wehrlein and would leave McLaren at the end of the year, switching to Japan’s Super GT series with Honda, where he currently leads the championship.
“It’s been awesome,” he told ESPN. “I’ve definitely done my years in F1 and stepping away was great, it was a good time for me to do it.
“Realistically, if I’d had the choice, I would have left half-way through the year [2016]. I’m much happier as a person now, life is great, and I’m racing things I’ve always wanted to race in.”
This past weekend, he joined Alonso at the Le Mans 24 Hours as part of the SMP Racing LMP1 entry but would be forced to retire after reliability problems early on.