Button: Final race retirement "doesn't matter"
Jenson Button says that his early retirement from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix doesn’t matter, as he was just focused on having fun at the end of a long career.
The 2009 world champion, who will not race in Formula 1 in 2017, was forced to retire after his front suspension suffered a rare collapse.
Observers noted he had clouted one of the track curbs hard beforehand.
Button joked with NBCSN: "I should have won… but I don't think that was on the cards, so I thought I'd retire early!
"It doesn't matter. I said before the race on social media that this result didn't matter; it's about having fun, it's about enjoying the emotions with friends and family and the team, and Formula 1 and the fans. So I've done that.
"It finished a little bit early but I can celebrate with the fans when I get out of the car, which is awesome.
Regarding the suspension breakage, he said: "McLarens don't fail, we don't have failures; it's the weirdest thing. So maybe it happened for a reason.
"I'm going to enjoy the rest of the day, my last day as an F1 driver, and have a jolly good time this evening with friends and family who I love very much.
"Last night was amazing with friends and family; I had a long dinner reminiscing. We filmed a lot of it… which is a bit dangerous. Better lose that camera!"
Reflecting on a career in which he scored 15 grand prix wins and won the world championship with Brawn GP, which evolved into the dominant Mercedes team, he said: "So many special moments. Tough moments as well, which we all go through, but also great ones.
"Finishing early today is not a negative; take it for what it is. I get to see these guys earlier rather than later and really celebrate a long career – 305 grands prix."
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