Jenson Button to make Goodwood debut in championship-winning Brawn
2009 F1 champion Jenson Button will make his Goodwood Members' Meeting debut next year, driving his championship-winning Brawn BGP 001. The event marks a celebratory capstone to his professional racing career and offers fans a rare chance to see the iconic underdog car in action.
2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button will drive his title-winning Brawn BGP 001 at the 83rd Goodwood Members' Meeting next year, marking his first appearance at the historic event. The run follows his recent retirement from professional racing and will be his first time driving the iconic car at Goodwood.
Why it matters:
Button's appearance represents a significant post-retirement moment for one of Britain's most popular champions and a poignant celebration of one of F1's greatest underdog stories. The Brawn team's fairy-tale 2009 season, where it rose from the ashes of Honda's withdrawal to win both championships, remains a defining narrative in the sport's history. Seeing the car and driver reunited at a venue like Goodwood provides a unique, tangible connection to that legacy for fans.
The details:
- This will be Button's debut at the Goodwood Members' Meeting, an invitation-only event known for featuring significant historic racing machinery.
- He last drove the Brawn BGP 001 in 2019 for the 10th anniversary of his title victory.
- Button officially retired from professional racing at the end of the 2025 World Endurance Championship season, concluding a career that included stints in Super GT, NASCAR, and endurance racing after his F1 retirement in 2017.
- The Duke of Richmond highlighted the rarity of seeing a modern F1 car on the Goodwood Motor Circuit, which closed to racing in 1966, calling it a "tantalising glimpse at what might have been."
What's next:
The demonstration run at the 83rd Members' Meeting is framed as a celebratory capstone to Button's professional driving career. For fans, it offers a rare opportunity to witness a piece of living F1 history—the car and driver combination that achieved one of the sport's most improbable championships—in action on a classic circuit, creating what organizers promise will be an unforgettable "I was there" moment.