The dirty math of F1 is screwing Jenson Button
But the rumor is Vettel is getting that seat. I was a McLaren fan because of their history with Honda and Ayrton Senna, but after the way they got rid of Sergio Perez last year, I stopped rooting for them. McLaren had garbage for a car, neither Button nor Perez were doing great with the car, and giving Checo the boot was just wrong. As a huge fan, I still root for Button though. I really hope he stays with McLaren, especially with Honda coming onboard next year. Alonso/Button would be a great team.
I meant, in case he gets canned by Mclaren, and Alonso leave, it would be a great Button-Vettel combo. Ross Brawn in the past have mentioned how good and smooth Jense is.
But you have Kimi with a contract good till the end of next year, unless Ferrari decide to pay Kimi to leave the team. Again.
McLaren has not a lot to lose at this moment and Button, although doing well, is not setting the world on fire either, so why not trying someone different?
The MP4-29 is a POS, but even then, he's had several top 5 finishes, his performance at Japan was stellar, and if it weren't for a pitstop blunder and I believe the timing of the safety car, he could have fought and probably finished on the podium. Had a great race at Sochi as well. To top it off, he has twice as many points as his young teammate. Button also beat Hamilton while they were both at McLaren, and in 3 years scored more points than Hamilton. I believe he finished 2nd to Vettel in 2012 as well. So yeah, I would keep him at McLaren along with Alonso. Consistent results in the points is what you want. If Ferrari kept Massa for so many years, especially that last 2-3 years of poor results, then it's a sad day when a driver is performing well and he is replaced.
Of course Button is outscoring Magnussen, but that's an expectable result from a veteran vs a newbie. When he outscored Hamilton it was because Hamilton's ugly tendency to screw things up, not because he was consistently faster, but Hamilton is still young and you know what Ken Tyrrel said: it's easier to make an unreliable driver to get reliable than a slow driver to get fast. Button is doing fine, but he´s reaching the end of his career, and McLaren is not going to have a winning car soon, so maybe it´s better for the team to put in that seat a youngster and let him grow for a few years till they have a good car again.
There is every possibility that next years McLaren will very good indeed. They need the best driver pairing they can get. No leading team plans for failure. I think Button is a really good driver, but if he leaves, no one is going to complain. I'd take Alonso back...
Magnussen should earn his experience in a lesser team and when jenson is truly ready to retire in a few years he can step up and take his place. For right now mclaren need points to get more constructors money. They have no sponsor and need money. Having big name drivers should help with their sponsorship endeavours too. Button and alonso will achieve the maximum points haul.
I'm not saying take Button over Alonso. I'm saying keep Button over Magnussen. Alonso+Button is a winning combination.
Honda had one good era in f1 . Impo honda will look around in two and half years and ask why are we doing this young woman don't watch f1 there is only down side for honda in f1 and now that you can't do engine development what's the point heck ron Dennis can't even get a sponsorship that will pay . Bean counters at honda are going to ask why do we have to send a box of checks to ron Dennis this is going to fun to watch
McLaren are using the same engines as the Mercedes works team and Williams. If they aren't at the pointy end of the grid with that, then the problems aren't in the engine department... so it's difficult to see what Honda engines could do to improve their fortunes. Having a new engine untested in the battle of a GP is another variable I don't think McLaren need. Unless they bring in some new blood in the chassis and aero departments, I think they're still going to struggle. They're a mid-pack team these days, and Ferrari have been little better off this season. Worrying times indeed for the two most prestigious names in Formula1. I would love to see Jenson Button race for Ferrari before he retires from F1 to pursue other challenges. He's one of my favourite personalities and I like his driving style. All the best, Andrew.
I imagine that Honda will bring more than an engine (sorry power unit) in their alliance with McLaren. I suppose they will also bring finance and technical co-operation in the car design too. Instead of being just a client, like McLaren is presently with Mercedes, Honda will become their partner. Honda's last attempt to manage a team by itself ended in failure, and they must have learnt from that. I would be surprised if McLaren doesn't start to bounce back from next year, to rejoin the leaders within 2 years and be able to challenge for a championship before too long.
Honda will bring funds to a typically cheapskate McLaren, allowing them to lure back talent both in drivers and in the rest of the team which they have bled out over the past decade. If Honda can deliver even a decent powerplant, Honda-McLaren will be a gamechanger. If they manage to snag Alonso I can't see them ditching K Mag (cheap driver with lots of upside) so they can hang onto JB for another couple few years before he retires. However in the unlikely event that we see 3-car teams next year, keeping JB around would make sense until the next new hotness comes along.
A driver's value isn't established strictly by his on track results. Sponsor relations and public appearances are so important to McLaren that their drivers sign two contracts. One for racing the other for PR. Unfortunately for Jensen he's getting a bit old hat in sponsor's eyes. Youth rules and the new and the novel get more attention. It's not just a Macca thing.
