Button considering IMSA for 2018

Jenson Button is contemplating a full-time return to racing in 2018 after feeling he stayed a year too long in Formula 1, and has named the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as a possible destination.

The 2009 Formula 1 world champion retired from F1 at the end of last season and this year only made a one-off appearance for McLaren at the Monaco Grand Prix to replace Fernando Alonso. However, a recent drive in the Suzuka 1000km (below) has led Button to focus on securing a full-time racing program next year, and he sees the U.S. as a potential destination.

"Do I miss F1? No. I don't, I miss racing," Button said. "I had fallen out of love a little bit with motorsport – I think I left it maybe a year too long racing in Formula 1. I spoke to Honda at the end of last year and I said would you mind if I had a bit of fun in your SuperGT car, and I did at the Honda Thanks Day at the end of last year. I loved it, and that was just me on my own.

"So after that I asked them if I could do the Suzuka 1000km, and they said they thought that they could work something out. So I came here completely green in the formula – it is completely different to anything I have ever done, racing around with another category. We didn't get a very good result – I think we had every issue you could possibly have – but I came away and felt that I had the love back for racing. I absolutely loved it – as soon as we were finished I wanted to get back in the car and do it all again. It has been a while since I had that feeling, I've been itching to drive anything, to be fair.

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"Next year I will be racing something; I don't know what yet, whether it will be in America, Europe or Japan. There are few options and I want to take it properly seriously."

Asked by RACER what the categories in the U.S. and Europe are that he is interested in, Button replied: "I think IMSA – where the DPi cars race.

"I love the fact that they all get the same... well, there's a selection of tubs that they can race with and they can make it their own with their aerodynamic package and power unit, and there's a few manufacturers racing there and that's great and it's definitely a growing motorsport in America.

"The GT category is great but I'm not sure I could be in a car being overtaken by the DPi cars. That's something I can't get my head around.

"I'd love to do Le Mans at some point but I'm not sure it's the right time to jump in and do it. Again, I think the LMP2 category is awesome, I think it's great there's so many teams, there's a lot of talented drivers – but you have P1. So I don't know, I just can't get my head around racing a car that is 20 seconds slower than something else."