Jenson Button admits he struggled for a period after his Formula 1 career as he needed something exciting in his life. Button retired from F1 at the end of 2016, although he made a one-off appearance at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix to replace Fernando Alonso. He raced in the Super GT Series in Japan, becoming champion in 2018 but then went through a tough spell. "When I stopped racing in F1, I raced in Japan for a couple of years, which is great," said Button on the High Performance Podcast. "Then I stopped racing in Japan and for six months it's nice, relaxing, and we're having children. "But I kind of struggled with, 'What am I going to do next?' Something that was going to give me that adrenaline, that excitement to build something really and I struggled. "I was working with sponsors, which was great, and obviously working with Sky Sports, but I didn't have that thing to sink my teeth into that I could really make a big change." Button turned to coachbuilding with TV star Ant Anstead and has been part of the Radford revival since the beginning of 2021. He's also been competing in Extreme E and has his own team which is currently second in the championship. After a difficult year, the former F1 World Champion has a lot of projects going on, which he is enjoying. "I spoke to a good friend and Ant Anstead and Mark Stubbs, who's a car designer, and we came up with the idea to take over Radford coachbuilding," continued Button. "That's what I've been doing over the last year or so, working with those guys working on a TV series, but also working on developing these wonderful coach-built cars. "I'm basically the driver part of it, I'm the test driver. So I'm building something that I would love to drive every day. I think if I can do that, if I can develop something that works for me, I think it works for everyone. "That was my big strength in motor racing, developing a car that would really work for me. So I'm loving it. It's such a fun project and we're working with Lotus on the first car. They've been fantastic working with our engineers and using their chassis to develop our coach-built body for it and interior. "So it's awesome and we're announcing our first car later this year, which should be fun. "But along with that, there is a lot going on. Working with Lotus, also with cycle brands last year and building bikes together. Extreme E with Lotus Engineering, learning a lot about electric vehicles and how we can develop it for the future. "The Extreme E team is doing very well, much better when I'm not driving!"
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