Button retires from final grand prix in Abu Dhabi

Jenson Button's F1 career ended in retirement after a suspension failure early in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 2009 world champion - taking part in what he expects to be his last grand prix - was running in ninth place when he hit the kerb hard on the inside of Turn 8, damaging his front right suspension. Button then went off at Turn 10 as he could not turn right properly, and radioed the team to say he had a failure.

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Button limped back to the pits and parked his car in front of the McLaren garage before standing on the front of it and waving to the crowd. The main grandstand at the Yas Marina Circuit gave Button a standing ovation before he walked into the garage to embrace his team.

While he will not drive for McLaren next season as he takes a sabbatical from racing in F1, Button admitted on Saturday evening that he feared he had made his decision to quit "way too soon" having felt his mindset change since the announcement in August.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.