F1 champion shares emotional retirement message

The 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button has taken to social media in an emotional post ahead of his final ever race.

Button has decided to retire from motorsport following this weekend's 8 Hours of Bahrain race in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), with the Brit announcing that he wants to quit in order to spend more time with his family.

The 45-year-old left F1 back in 2016, before returning for a one-off race in 2017 at the Monaco Grand Prix, and he has since competed in a number of other motorsport series, including the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), the NASCAR Cup Series and WEC.

In 2018, he even won the Super GT - GT500 series, his most recent motorsport championship title.

Now, as he prepares for his final race before retirement this weekend in Bahrain, Button has thrown it back to his first ever race as a kid in karting.

Button took to Instagram to show off a special helmet design for the occasion, and completed the post with the caption: "So here she is. In memory of my first ever helmet design incorporating a bit of my current. Back in the day when your helmet designer was your dad!

"My dad said he designed my original helmet in black with yellow horns to scare the other kids."

Button's F1 career

Button's F1 career spanned 17 full seasons, and he claimed 15 grands prix victories and 50 podiums in that time, as well as becoming a world champion.

That career highlight came in 2009 with the Brawn GP team, when he helped to complete the fairytale of a team born out of the ashes of the old Honda Racing team rising to claim double championship success.

The outfit were only in the sport for a single season, before Ross Brawn sold the team to Mercedes, which makes the achievements of Button and Rubens Barrichello even more special.

Button then moved to McLaren and forged a partnership with another British world champion in Lewis Hamilton, and Button opted to stay with the Woking-based outfit for the rest of his career.

The Brit never quite managed to emulate his Brawn GP success with McLaren, although he did finish runner-up to Sebastian Vettel in 2011, beating team-mate Hamilton in the process.

Button is still regularly seen in the F1 paddock, as a pundit with Sky Sports F1, a role that he has managed to fit in alongside his racing commitments in the WEC.

READ MORE: F1 world champions: Full list from Farina to four-time King Verstappen

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