F1 champion plans to race Le Mans in Adrian Newey designed Aston Martin

fernando alonso, jenson button, ferrari — Photo: © IMAGO

Le Mans

F1 champion plans to race Le Mans in Adrian Newey designed Aston Martin

Newey designed the Aston Martin Valkyrie

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 2 June 2026 13:44

An F1 champion has revealed their desire to tackle the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Adrian Newey-designed Aston Martin Valkyrie.

The Valkyrie hypercar made its 24-hour debut at Le Mans in 2025, where the 009 car and 007 car finished in 12th and 14th respectively.

Aston Martin's Valkyrie project began back in 2016 with design legend Newey during his time at Red Bull, where the two brands partnered to bring F1 technology to the road.

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Over its three-year production period Aston Martin has built 275 Valkyries, 150 of which are standard Valkyries, 85 are Valkyrie Spiders and only 25 are track-only AMR Pro variants.

Sold for $3.5million [£3million], the Valkyrie runs on a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine and, combined with the electrical motor, produces 1,155bhp - the most powerful naturally aspirated engine ever created for a road car.

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Button wants to take on Le Mans in Aston Martin Valkyrie

The 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button, who was recently announced as an Aston Martin team ambassador, recently revealed his desire to drive the Valkyrie competitively at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Button himself has competed at Le Mans on four occasions, twice in the hypercar class, with Hertz Team Jota in 2024 and 2025, in the innovative class in 2023 with Hendricks Motorsport and in 2018 with SMP Racing in the LMP1 category. His best result was a seventh place finish last year.

Writing for Aston Martin on their website ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, in a piece titled 'Jenson's Journal | Entry 02: Monaco, baby! The inside guide to life in the Principality', Button revealed his plans to take on Le Mans in the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

He wrote: "The Monaco Grand Prix is part of the motorsport Triple Crown alongside the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500. I've completed one leg but I don't envisage getting all three.

"I've had a couple of attempts at Le Mans, but winning there hasn't quite happened.

"I'd love to drive the Aston Martin Valkyrie around Le Mans one day though. Perhaps we can make it happen. It would be my chance to finally drive an Adrian Newey-designed car.

"As for the Indy 500? I've got huge respect for those drivers but that's not for me.

"Fernando [Alonso] probably has the best shot of anyone at completing the Triple Crown because he's already won Monaco and Le Mans, and he's come close at Indy, having led there. If he wants another go at it, he absolutely has a chance."

F1 Aston Martin Adrian Newey Jenson Button