After Bahrain, Button and Pérez make peace at McLaren
After their intense duel during the Bahrain Grand Prix and the harsh comments following the race, Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez have made peace. This was an opportunity for McLaren to reiterate that it wants to allow its drivers to work things out both on the track and in the privacy of motorhomes, as long as it remains constructive for the team.

Author of a complicated start to the season at the wheel of a McLaren below his expectations, Sergio Pérez finished the Bahrain Grand Prix in sixth place in the standings after an aggressive race: « I was a bit aggressive on the track today. Touching Jenson’s tires might have been a bit too risky, a bit too hard, but the team never called us on the radio to tell us to stop fighting. There were no team orders. There was a lot of adrenaline between us, and Jenson is always a very strong driver, but hopefully, we will help each other a bit more in the future. However, he was calm and friendly after the race, which was great but not surprising because he is a great person and a great driver. »
Yet, when questioned on the spot after the race, the 2009 world champion didn’t seem to have appreciated the vigor of his young teammate: “I raised my voice on the radio and emotions were very strong, but I would say what I said at the time: the race was super nice, but Checo was too aggressive. At 300 km/h, you don’t expect your teammate to come alongside and have your wheels touch. It was a bit of a surprise and I was probably not the only one to feel that way.” For his part, the Mexican returned the ball to the Briton: “I think I was just as aggressive as he was towards me. It was probably too much. We could have both ruined our race.”
A few hours later, like his young teammate, the Englishman slightly tempered his remarks: « I don’t think it was the cleanest race between Checo and me. I think it’s nice that we are allowed to fight during the race, but in turn 4, our wheels touched, and it’s not normally the way I like to race. However, I must acknowledge that Checo had a great race and scored important points for the team. »
Since then, the two teammates have had the opportunity to discuss it again and conclude a peace agreement: “We sat down, we talked, and I hope we learned from this race… it could have ended very differently for both of us,” Jenson Button confides. “It’s great that we don’t have team orders and that we’re allowed to fight. I think it’s a good thing to be in a team that is very open to feedback and that says what it thinks to the drivers, face-to-face.”
In an interview with Autosport, Sam Michael, the sporting director of the Woking team, discusses the constructive conversation between his two drivers: Both Jenson and Sergio had the opportunity to give us their point of view, and we provided them with the team’s position. It’s very simple: McLaren allows its two drivers to race hard but with fair play, and in return, the drivers must honor this trust and not let the team down. It was a good discussion, and both Jenson and Sergio were not only willing to discuss the situation but also to part on good terms. They have only worked together for four Grand Prix, and it is already clear that they can form a good team and become a very serious force to be reckoned with.
And Sam Michael insists on the fact that the two men must still get to know and learn from each other: « It must be remembered that Sergio is a young wolf. He is 23 years old, he has competed in 41 Grand Prix and has not won a single one yet. He has simply been on the podium 3 times. In comparison, Jenson is 33 years old, he has participated in 232 Grand Prix and has won 15. He has been on the podium 49 times and, of course, he is also a world champion. The gap in terms of age and experience is huge, but Checo is fast and talented while Jenson’s example is and will continue to be extremely useful in his learning process. But we are thrilled with that. We hired Jenson and Sergio because we wanted them. They are competitors and we want them to be competitive, and the logical conclusion is that we want them to be able to compete with each other. »
Unrestricted competition between teammates, a philosophy that is rooted in tradition for McLaren, as the Briton recalls: « Some of the most exciting moments of the modern Grand Prix era were delivered by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, then teammates at McLaren, who fought on the track in the late 1980s, and Ron Dennis never gave team orders at that time. Jenson and Lewis Hamilton also had their fair share of on-track battles over the past three years, and although they caused a few nervous moments on the pit wall, we did not intervene. […] I’m not saying there won’t be a scenario one day where team orders might be applied due to circumstances such as reliability, to name just one. However, in such a case, it is likely our drivers will be aware of the situation and will understand it, or if we fail to make them understand during the race, the team will explain it to them afterward. But we were not in that situation in Bahrain, so there was no reason to give orders. »
For his part, Martin Whitmarsh, who had urged Sergio Pérez to be less polite on track, does not regret letting his two drivers fight: The Button team wants to beat the Pérez team. They will say it harms them, but it’s normal: we like this dynamic. The mechanics want their car to beat the other car. That’s how we operate, and it generates tension, but I think it’s the right way to do it. Many people suggested I put an end to their fight, but we didn’t. I think it was the right thing, in the long run, for our drivers to know they can fight each other and be competitive. We’ve seen that several times this year, and the driver who is behind always thinks he was faster, so he will always feel aggrieved. These guys are on the track to fight, and you can’t suddenly decide halfway, “Oh, by the way, I didn’t mean it. Don’t fight because I’m not comfortable with it.”