Jenson Button targets new challenge outside of racing career: "Could be rather embarrassing"

Jenson Button has revealed on his Instagram that he will be entering the Hyrox fitness race to raise money for Women's Empowerment. The 2009 Formula 1 world champion confirmed that he will compete in the doubles category at the Anaheim round and will match the donations made by his supporters.

Explaining the event, Button tentatively revealed what he will be taking part in.

“As it's coming to the end of my professional racing career, I thought I needed a new challenge," he joked. "So I've decided to do a Hyrox. For people who don't know, Hyrox is eight one-kilometre runs, and after each run, it's followed by an exercise.

"It could be a rower, it could be a skier, it could be a sled push, a sled pull. I'm just naming them all now. Farmer's carry, wall balls, and it's quite intense, but I felt like I needed that.”

He won't be taking on this challenge alone: “And I'm doing it as a doubles, in doubles with a friend of mine called Nano. He's an ex-professional soccer player, so he knows a bit about training. Probably a little bit more than me," he joked.

Jenson Button and Brittny Ward attend a reception prior to the F1 The Movie World Premiere

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

"The only issue is I decided I wanted to do Anaheim as it's quite close to home, and they only had Pro Division left. So it's basically like a complete amateur getting into an F1 car and racing against the best.”

The former F1 driver hasn't got long to train. “So it's not going to be easy and it could be rather embarrassing. We have two months to train. I'm looking forward to the pain that we're going to endure for those two months, and we will come out fighting.

“So looking forward to that, and we're doing it for a really good charity, which is Women's Empowerment. Both Nano and myself are girl dads, and we want to make sure that our daughters have every opportunity in life, are given every opportunity, and they're living in a better world for women, children in their communities.

"If you're wanting to donate, I will match every single donation. Yes, and I will be putting all of our training on my story. So look forward to some sweaty JB pictures."