Button hopes F1 calendar won't keep expanding
Jenson Button hopes Formula 1’s calendar does not expand beyond 24 events, as he believes it would put too much strain on the personnel in teams.
The F1 calendar featured 17 races back when Button won the world championship in 2009, and by the time he retired in 2016 it had grown to 21 events.
With that number climbing to 24 in recent years, Button believes the growing calendar is fine for drivers, but that it would be unfair on the people working in the paddock to keep adding more races.
Speaking at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2026 in Singapore ahead of this weekend’s Singapore GP, Button said: “24 races around the world is really, really tough. So I wouldn’t want to see any more.
“For the drivers, it’s fine. They finish the race, they get on a private jet and go home.
“But for the mechanics and everyone else that’s working within the team, the pack-up is insane.
“They also don’t leave the track and go on holiday. They go back to the factory and start working again.
“The people that are in F1 are obviously passionate about it because they wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. It’s so much time away from your family.
“So I hope there aren’t more races.”
Button added that the growing interest in venues that want to host races shows F1 “is in such a good place” in terms of popularity at the moment, although also wonders if there should “be a limit” on the ticket prices charged to fans, so that F1 doesn’t become “closed off”.
Helping fans understand a complicated sport
Button, who made his debut when F1 had V10 engines, won his title during the V8 era and retired after three years of racing with V6 turbo hybrids, also said he doesn’t want to see F1 become too complicated on the technical side.
“It’s very complicated at the moment,” he said of how F1’s power units work. “I know that we’re pushing technology, but also there needs to be some understanding for the fans to really get behind it.
“I love that we have different ideas in terms of technology for road cars. We have electric, we have hydrogen, we have hybrids, we have combustion engines and it’s great that we have all these different ideas.
“Personally, I’d like to see [F1] come back to combustion engines and running sustainable fuel.
“For me, it’s the best way. But that’s just my opinion because I love the sound of a combustion engine and it adds to the excitement of a race car.
“I even did a race in the UK [at Goodwood] driving 1950s, 1960s race cars and even those cars now are running on sustainable fuel. So it’s really good to see the progress.”
A changing fanbase
The 46-year-old, who now works with Aston Martin-Honda as an ambassador, also noted the shift he’s witnessed in F1’s fanbase, which is now much younger.
“I think it’s 50-50 male and female now, which is not what it was when I was racing,” he said.
“And I think the average age [of F1 fans] when I was racing was mid-40s, which is what I am now. Even my fanbase on social media is in the 30s now.
“So it’s amazing how the sport has changed. It’s definitely for the better. It’s good to see that we are getting young fans into this sport.”
Button said that the impact of things like social media and Netflix’s Drive to Survive series had not only increased the profiles of the drivers but also their partners, which he contrasted with how it felt bringing wives or girlfriends to events when he was racing.
“My wife came to quite a few races in my last year in F1,” he said. “It was not a nice atmosphere for her. She didn’t really enjoy it.
“Now it’s different. She comes to a few races and she thinks it’s amazing. It’s a much younger atmosphere, a much happier, positive atmosphere. It’s an exciting place to be.”
