Racing
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Jenson Button has opened the door to a return to top-level racing with Aston Martin, saying he expects to be back in international motorsport “very soon” and would “love to drive the Aston Martin Valkyrie around Le Mans one day.”
Writing in his Jenson’s Journal column on the Aston Martin website, Button said he “took leave” of his professional motorsport career at the end of last year, but suggested that break will not last. He added that his comeback would “definitely not” be “on the smallest podium,” pointing to ambitions beyond a low-key return.
The clearest clue was Le Mans. Button wrote: “I’d love to drive the Aston Martin Valkyrie around Le Mans one day. Perhaps we can make it happen. It would be my chance to finally drive an Adrian Newey-designed car.”
That possibility carries obvious logic even if no drive is in place. Button now works as an Aston Martin team ambassador, and the Valkyrie AMR-LMH is already racing in this year’s World Endurance Championship Hypercar class with The Heart of Racing. The route exists, even if there is currently no seat waiting for him.
Button’s comments also made clear where he sees unfinished business in the Triple Crown. He has already won Monaco, but Le Mans remains the missing target he is still willing to chase. “I’ve had a couple of attempts at Le Mans, but winning there hasn’t quite happened,” he wrote.
His record there underlines the point. Across four starts, Button retired on his debut with SMP Racing in 2018, drove the Garage 56 NASCAR entry in 2023, finished ninth with Hertz Team Jota in 2024 and seventh with Cadillac Hertz Team Jota last year.
Indianapolis, though, is not part of the same plan. Button drew a firm line under any Indy 500 talk, writing: “I’ve got huge respect for those drivers, but that’s not for me.”
That leaves Le Mans as the realistic focus of any Button comeback, and the Aston Martin Valkyrie as the car that could bring him back onto a major international stage sooner than his retirement comments initially suggested.