F1 Drivers racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018

The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s oldest active endurance racing event is primed to begin on the 16th of June, Saturday. The competition would take place at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France and would see 60 cars pushing their limits and challenging the other contenders. The 24 Hours of Le Mans provides all the entrants with an opportunity to gather acclaim in the day and night race.

The race will start once the 17 Grand Slam title winner Rafael Nadal waves the French flag, the race would test the endurance, skill, and patience of drivers, cars and pit crew alike. The event is one of the most prestigious affairs in the world of motorsport. Like any other event, it too has seen quite a few drivers taking up the mantle to compete in the race after they have hung up their boots (or in this case, steering wheels) in Formula One racing.

Some of these drivers have found it hard to part with the adrenaline rush that comes from racing at the highest level, while others have tried to fight their way to the Triple Crown of Motorsports. Whatever be the reason, Le Mans has been sure to welcome them with open arms. The 2018 Le Mans is proving the same, with two former Formula One World Champions, Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso, joining the spectacular line-up of driver entries.

Here is a list of a few F1 drivers who will be racing in the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans:

#1 Bruno Senna

Bruno Senna has formerly driven for HRT, Renault, and Williams in Formula One from 2010-2012. He has participated in 46 races and while he hasn’t won a Grand Prix, he has managed to accumulate 33 points over 3 years, most of which came in 2012 with the Williams F1 team.

The Brazilian has more experience racing in Le Mans, even scoring a win in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 category with Rebellion Racing in 2017. Continuing with Rebellion Racing in the LMP1 class, he would be driving the Rebellion R13-Gibson this year. It would be interesting to see how well the 34-year-old would fare in this season.

#2 Kamui Kobayashi

Kamui Kobayashi is another driver racing in the LMP1 class of Le Mans 2018. He scored a seat with Toyota Racing and would be driving the Toyota TS050 Hybrid along with teammates Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.

The Japanese driver has previously competed for Toyota in Formula One in 2009 and was their test driver in the 2007 and 2008 season. Thereafter, he joined Sauber and drove for them from 2010 to 2012. He has amassed 125 F1 career points during his 76 race entries.

Apart from WEC and Formula One, the 31-year-old has also participated in Formula E and Super Formula Championship.

#3 Sebastien Buemi

Sebastien Buemi has had a long-standing tenure with the Formula One team Red Bull Racing. He has previously driven with the sister team of Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2009 to 2011 seasons before resuming his test and reserve driver duties for Red Bull Racing. He has the experience of 55 races under his belt, for which he has 29 points to show.

He won the World Endurance Championship title with Toyota in 2014 and is all set to compete for the Japanese team for the 2018 season. He would be driving the Toyota TS050 Hybrid along with Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima.

#4 Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is one of the most famous faces of Formula One racing and has won the Monaco Grand Prix twice. The double F1 World Champion is currently driving with McLaren for the 2018 season. However, after getting a taste of Indianapolis-500 in 2017, the Spaniard has decided to compete in World Endurance Championships and 24 hours of Le Mans will award double points in the WEC champonship.

Alonso has agreed to compete in a complete WEC season with Toyota Racing for 2018-19 and would be partnering Sebastien Buemi in driving the Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Driving with Toyota in the LMP1 class would be one of the best opportunities for the Spaniard to win Le Mans, taking him closer in his hunt for the coveted Triple Crown.

#5 Jenson Button

Jenson Button is a former Formula One driver has won 15 Grands Prix. He has driven for teams like Williams, McLaren, Benetton, and Brawn. It was with Brawn that Button won his one and only Formula One World Championship.

The British racing driver retired from Formula One and took a sabbatical in 2017, except for driving in place of Fernando Alonso in the Monaco Grand Prix. He then returned to racing by competing in the Super GT series and deciding to participate in the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. He secured a drive in SMP Racing’s BR1-AER car for the June Le Mans and he would be competing against his former McLaren teammate Alonso in the LMP1 category.

#6 Vitaly Petrov

Vitaly Petrov has been a Formula One racing driver for Renault and Caterham from 2010 to 2012. He had respectable seasons with both the teams, scoring 64 points from 58 races, but when he failed to produce much of consequence except for a solo podium, he was left without a seat in 2013.

The 33-year-old started competing in the FIA World Endurance Championships in 2016 and his best result came with SMP Racing when he finished third. For the 2018-19 season, he would be seen driving for SMP Racing again alongside Jenson Button and Mikhail Aleshin. The Russian would be participating in the LMP1 category and driving a BR1-AER.

#7 Paul di Resta

Paul di Resta was a Formula One driver from 2011 to 2013 and has scored 121 career points from his 59 race starts. He has previously driven for Force India and Williams Racing and has handled test and reserve driver duties for them. It was because of his reserve driver commitments to Williams that he drove for them in 2017 after Felipe Massa could not compete in the Hungarian Grand Prix due to illness.

The Scottish racing driver would be featuring in Le Mans under the LMP2 category for United Autosports. The 32-year-old would be behind the wheel of a Ligier JS P217-Gibson and is paired up with Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson.

#8 Jean-Eric Vergne

Jean-Eric Vergne is a former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver who achieved 52 Formula One points from 2012 to 2014. He had an abundance of exposure to testing duties with Toro Rosso and Scuderia Ferrari till 2016.

He tasted success in Formula E, where he is currently placed first with Tacheetah in the ongoing 2017-18 season. The French racing driver would be sharing driving duties of the G-Drive Racing car Oreca 07-Gibson in the 24 hours of Le Mans. He would be partnered with G-Drive team boss, Roman Rusinov, and Andrea Pizzitola. The 28-year-old is competing in the LMP2 category.

#9 Kazuki Nakajima

Kazuki Nakajima was a Formula One driver for Williams Racing from 2007 to 2009. After he was left without a Formula One drive, the Japanese driver opted for racing in Formula Nippon before turning to Super Formula and FIA World Endurance Championship.

The 33-year-old already has a win under his belt in the 2018-19 season and has competed for Toyota Racing since 2012. Along with Buemi and Alonso, Nakajima would be driving the Toyota TS050 Hybrid for Toyota Racing in the LMP1 class of Le Mans. Toyota would be the team to beat this year, especially after Porsche and Audi removed themselves from competition, but they would have to ensure reliability to do so. Nakajima claimed the provisional pole in the first qualifying session at the 24H Le Mans 2018.

#10 Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya is all set to drive United Autosport’s Ligier JS P217-Gibson in the LMP2 category for the 2018 Le Mans. He would be sharing the driver duties with Will Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer.

The Colombian racing driver has previously won the 24 hours of Daytona thrice, and it was there where the 42-year-old seemingly caught the eye of United Autosports’ owners.

If he were to win the 2018 Le Mans, he would become the second driver after Graham Hill to have conquered the Triple Crown, as he is already a Monaco Grand Prix and a two time Indianapolis winner.

Apart from the drivers mentioned above, there are other former Formula One racers competing in the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans and the list includes- Pastor Maldonado, Andre Lotterer, Stephane Sarrazin, Jan Lammers, Felipe Nasr, Will Stevens, Giedo van der Garde, Antonio Giovinazzi, Gianmaria Bruni, Sebastien Bourdais, Jan Magnussen, Giancarlo Fisichella, Olivier Beretta, and Pedro Lamy.

Edited by Shahid Salman