Button is about to give up Formula 1
According to several English sources, Jenson Button will announce this weekend at Suzuka his intention to end his Formula 1 career at the end of the season.
Will 2016 be the first Formula 1 season since 2000 not to include Jenson Button? This possibility suddenly became likely today. Indeed, according to several consistent sources from across the Channel, including the Times, the Daily Mail, and the Telegraph, the Englishman is expected to announce this weekend his retirement from F1 at the end of the current season.
According to the English press, Eric Boullier, McLaren’s racing director, would nonetheless like to keep Jenson Button for the next season. However, in anticipation of the team’s future financial difficulties, the 2009 World Champion would have had to agree to a salary reduction, which he reportedly refused.
Jenson Button would also be worn out by a calamitous season with McLaren-Honda, which just set a sad record in Singapore: the most double retirements in a season. Once again betrayed by his machinery, the former Renault driver admitted yesterday that this situation did not leave him indifferent: « We thought we would be a bit more competitive, but that was not the case. (…) It hurts a bit, yes, and I think it’s tough for the whole team. They always do a remarkable job, they work like crazy in Woking and Japan, and they do so without stopping. It’s just that we are not improving as quickly as we would like. »
Regarding the next race in Japan, a country to which he is particularly attached, Jenson Button doesn’t harbor any illusions: I still love Suzuka, even if I think it won’t be the best race for us. But we will have a lot of support here, as it is Honda’s home race.
The retirement of Jenson Button, who at 35 could explore the WEC alongside Mark Webber, would thus free up a coveted seat. The names of Kevin Magnussen, the team’s third driver, and Stoffel Vandoorne, a McLaren protégé and dominant force in GP2, naturally emerge.
