Jenson Button predicting electric future "in every form of motorsport"

Jenson Button

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Button predicting electric future "in every form of motorsport"

Extreme E series starts in early April in Saudi Arabia

Ian Parkes

Saturday 6 February 2021 14:30

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Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has predicted the future of "every form of motorsport" will be electric.

Button recently followed fellow F1 champions Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg into the new all-electric Extreme E racing series that aims to bring attention to the effects of climate change by racing in remote environments.

Button has, however, gone one step further than Hamilton and Roberg as he has become an owner/driver with his team JBXE.

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The 41-year-old believes series like Formula E and Extreme E are the forerunners to motorsport, and even F1 will one day be all-electric.

"As a parent, you think of the future more than just now, living in the moment, which has always been my life, about living in the moment," Button told BBC Sport.

"You do think about the future more and what your kids are going to have when they grow up and what we are going to leave to them.

"Yes, this is a very special category, and with the people involved it does spread a lot of awareness. We're all doing our little bit. I'm not going to say 'I'm going to change the world'.

"[But] Road cars in the UK, in a decade or so, you won't be able to buy a petrol car. They will be obsolete.

"So racing a Formula 1 car with a petrol engine, obviously, will be pointless, so the future will be electric in every form of motorsport."

Describing the feeling from the 550hp Extreme E vehicles, which he has described as being "like a big Tonka toy", Button added: "That initial touch of the throttle, when you feel that power, all of the thoughts of the sounds of a V8 go out of the window because of the feeling you get from an electric-powered vehicle.

"It's definitely the future, and I'm definitely going to be working on getting an electric car."

Extreme E starts with the Desert Xprix in Alula, Saudi Arabia, in early April, before taking in the Ocean, Arctic, Amazon and Glacier events.

"I can't change the world on my own, but I'm going to try and do my little bit to bring awareness to the issues that we have," said Button.

"I just thought Extreme E was a fantastic initiative, great teams racing all around the world in places that have been hit by climate change, bringing awareness to those areas.

"All of the cars travel together on a ship and there are scientists on those ships who will be studying the areas and hopefully helping us understand what we need to do to help climate change."