It’s been a busy week for former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, as three days after announcing his new role at Williams F1 as a senior advisor, he will now be joining Extreme E as both a founder and owner of the JBXE team, as well as one of its drivers.
This move to Extreme E is arguably Button’s biggest since his departure from F1 back in 2017. Over the past three years, he has dabbled in many other forms of motorsports, including the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Le Mans 24 Hours, the British GT and the Super GT series.
While the majority of his racing career was on the track, Button has apparently always had a passion for off-road racing, getting a taste for it in both the Mint 400 and the Baja 1000. Sparking that passion was his late father John Button, who was a rallycross driver in the 1970s and 80s.
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In regard to Button’s move to the series, founder and CEO of Extreme E Alejandro Agag said: “I’m thrilled to welcome another major name in the world of motorsport in Jenson Button. He is one of the most popular drivers in the business and Extreme E will give him the opportunity to live out one of his long-held passions, to compete at the highest level in off-road racing.”
“Jenson, alongside his peers, will give further weight to our mission to raise awareness of the global climate crisis, while doing what we love – racing. It’s going to be fantastic to see the biggest names in motorsport on the starting line in Saudi Arabia in April – it is set to be an incredible form of entertainment, but with a strong and purposeful message around our planet.”
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On his part, Button said: “JBXE has been a long time coming and I’m both delighted and proud to announce its formation and entry into the inaugural Extreme E Championship. I caught the off-road bug a few years back which led to me entering my own team in a few races including the Mint 400 and even the Baja 1000 and I absolutely loved it! It was around the same time I first heard about the plans for Extreme E which I’ve followed with great interest and what Alejandro Agag, Ali Russell and the team have managed to create is nothing short of incredible, and thanks to them and our partners Apater Capital and Pipt we get to be a part of it.”
Button went on to express his appreciation for his competition in the series, which he likes not only for the drivers’ talent, but also the inclusion of female drivers racing alongside men. He also mentioned that he will be announcing the team’s second driver in the coming weeks before the season opener in Saudi Arabia.
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Extreme E is now home to 10 World Champions: F1 Champions like Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are team owners, while racing will be three World Rallycross Champions (Johan Kristoffersson, Timmy Hansen and Mattias Ekström), two World Rally Champions (Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz), a Women’s Trial World Champion (Laia Sanz) and a Pro-4 World Champion (Kyle LeDuc), who among them hold more than 40 World Championships across five different forms of motorsport. In addition to them, Jamie Chadwick is the reigning W Series Champion and Molly Taylor is a former Australian Rally Champion.
JBXE is the 10th team in Extreme E, joining Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti United, ABT CUPRA XE, Rosberg Xtreme Racing, Team TECHEETAH, Hispano Suiza Xite Energy Team, ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team, Veloce Racing, and X44.
Starting in April 2021, Extreme E will see electric SUVs competing in extreme environments across the globe that have already been adversely affected by climate change and environmental issues. The series’ goal is to highlight the impact of climate change and human interference in some of the world’s most remote locations, as well as promote the mainstream adoption of electric vehicles.