Jenson Button will not be driving in F1 in 2017

It's often been said of McLaren boss Ron Dennis that he likes to have his cake and eat it and today's announcement of Jenson Button's "not a retirement" seems a just about perfect solution for all parties.

As I alluded to in paying my respects to Felipe Massa only on Thursday, others should choose their time to leave F1.

It had become clear Jenson would make changes this season but where to go? What to do?

I could not see JB heading to either Indycars or sports cars although a TV career seemed very possible.

Ron also wanted new whizz kid Stoffel Vandoorne in a McLaren seat and the sponsorship that he brings with him as McLs poor few seasons have seen even long term sponsors deserting in droves.

But Mr Vandoorne, good as he will prove to be, simply doesn't have the highly regarded car development skills that JB has honed over nearly 300 GPs, 50 podiums, 15 wins and a World Championship, skills Ron is wise to retain. Yet I have little doubt that Jenson's fee for 2017 and 18 will reflect his non driving status, Ron is a tough negotiator as Ayrton Senna frequently rued.

7 years with former world beaters McLaren have seen Jenson contribute greatly to their slow but gradual climb out of the pit of F1 despair. He was instrumental in the Honda engine deal then pushed the Japanese car makers very hard both privately and publicly to up their game - and fast - to the point where the team is rapidly climbing back up the grid.

And through those very lean years Jenson kept the faith inspiring others in the team to stay, to persevere, to fight on.

Over the years I have met and interviewed Jenson many times, even before F1. He is immensely likeable, charming, confident and an easy interviewee. He is also very shrewd, sets achievable goals and sees the longer game. (In an interview I recorded with him back in 2008 he displays many, if not all, of these qualities…)

So give a thought to the number of drivers who have become successful team bosses. Quite a few, Jordan, Horner, Sauber, Brabham, Hill, Bruce McLaren, even Ron Dennis himself.

Is JB's new 2 year contract more than just a development driver role, perhaps a precursor to a team management role, an heir to the mighty Ron empire or at least the F1 bit? If so, I have just written his CV!

But a word of warning Jenson, Ron can be ruthless… Beware the Ides of Whitmarsh.

Or will it be et tu Ron.

Graham Benge

Friday F1 Fun!

Someone at Formula1sBlog has kindly put together a selection of the funny and daft things that F1 drivers are required to do for their sponsors…

And where would we be on a Friday afternoon without them!!

Perez moving to McLaren

So Perez got the plum second seat at McLaren...

Jenson will presumably be the team's clear Number 1... He is adept at building a team around him, and, no doubt has another World Championship in him .... Possibly even this year ....! He'll surely want more money and McLaren should now be able to find it, at least £2m, but critical in his new contract will be that clear Number 1 status - to Martin Whitmarsh's relief!

Having said all that, Jenson may yet be surprised by Perez who is a little like Lewis was in his first season... 

Three podiums attest to Perez's speed... but, as has been pointed out by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, he needs experience and good support... Ferrari however must be a little miffed since Perez is a product of THEIR driver programme and had been rumoured to be replacing Massa....

McLaren will surely welcome Perez's funder too - a 'tough Mexican businessman'...

It looks like we are all going to be giddy for a couple of weeks more as the money-go-round goes ever faster.

Graham Benge

Immediate reaction to Malaysian Grand Prix

Graham, Dave and Andrew have a brief chat about the Malaysian Grand Prix....

Download the MP3 HERE

Melbourne Grand Prix - Immediate reaction

Graham, Dave and Andrew talk through the thrills and spills of a fantastic Melbourne Grand Prix....

Download MP3 HERE

Immediate reaction to the Bahrain GP....

Graham Benge, David Wakefield and Andrew Denyer give their immediate reactions the first race of the 2010 Formula One season... the Bahrain GP...

Download the MP3 HERE

Extra UKMotorTalk Programme!

A short extra edition of UKMotorTalk as Graham Benge, Andrew Denyer and Mike Turner get together to talk about Stirling Moss' unfortunate accident, and then discuss the price of new cars!

Download MP3 HERE

Mercedes musical chairs as Jenson heads for Woking

As the dust settles on the news that Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button is Mclaren bound for 2010 and beyond, UKMotortalk's Graham Benge takes a look at what he can expect as he takes the coveted number 1 to Woking and speculates on the bigger picture which might well have helped engineer his move.


"Don't mention the war" they used to say in Fawlty Towers but now we have two moustachioed RAF types flying red white and blue Spitfires yet powered by Messerschmitt engines!

How times change, & despite knowing that Lewis and Jenson get on really well I never thought they would both be signed by McLaren at the same time.
Will Martin Whitmarsh be able to hold the two of them in check, to prevent a major ego clash? Will McLaren, as they have always done, field identical cars and show no garage bias, or will it degenerate into the Senna/Prost rivalry of the early 1990s?

Even if it did that rivalry produced one of McLaren's most successful eras, winning - between the two drivers - 15 races out of the 16 in the 1988 season despite their drivers coming to blows very publicly at least twice!

But to see what's really going on one needs to step a lot further back.

Only with sufficient perspective do we realise that both Lewis and Jenson are just very well paid and very talented pawns in a much bigger and longer game. The driver moves and their inflated salaries are really but a nickel and dime side show.

McLaren will doubtless become a major player in the sports car market within the next two or three years, probably rivalling Ferrari and Porsche and seriously hurting Mercedes sports car sales, especially at the premium end of that particular market niche.
The 722 SM we talked about recently is the last of the supercar collaborations between Mclaren & Mercedes and has only a few weeks left to run before they have all been completed. This expensive “niche of a niche” has shown no decline whatsoever, indeed those with the financial wherewithal to spend a million euros a pop on a car can still afford those sums of money.

The great game seems to be one of major power shifts in the car industry at its most expensive. Mclaren have no desire to be a volume car producer, they will be a high tech, high cost, high profit constructor, and want to go their own way in car making; therefore Ron Dennis and the other investors certainly don’t want to sell out completely to Mercedes Benz.

Indeed they are probably very glad to be able to buy back the 40% Mercedes currently own, I’m sure that opportunity came as a very pleasant surprise to Ron and Mansour Ojjeh.

At the same time Mercedes found that they could do a deal with Mclaren where they continue to provide engines to the F1 team at a price, dramatically reduce their financial input into the Woking squad yet keep their name on the car and still have spare change left over to buy the 2009 World Championship winning F1 team, repaint the car as the legendary Silver Arrows, hire two very capable German drivers – Rosberg and Heidfeld – retain the services of master tactician Ross Brawn to work alongside Norbert Haug, (putting a substantial profit into Ross’s pocket as he capitalises 70% of a team he paid just a £1 for - in addition to a substantial dowry from Honda) and achieve all of this at what would seem to be bargain basement prices in global terms.

The end result is that Mclaren get the best drivers and the best engines while they still want them, and in addition get to design and build their own road cars whilst Mercedes get to own their own F1 team with their own name on it, their choice of drivers at lower outlay than they expected and get to strengthen their brand image against Mclaren’s road car division into the bargain.

As Ron said last week “for all parties it’s a win-win scenario”.

I think we are going to see a lot of wins for McLaren in 2010!

Graham Benge

Jenson Button - F1 World Champion 2009

The champagne has all been drunk, after a few hours fitful sleep the hangover is easing and for Jenson Button realisation dawns that he is, indeed, the

2009 F1 World Champion

.... even if he will never win a Karaoke competition.

After 21 years in karts and working his way up through the lower formulae, Jenson reached F1 with a surprise - to him - call from Williams to join them for 2000. Frank and Patrick recognised that there was some great talent buried deep inside Jenson but they probably never really drew it out.

As Jenson started to earn some very good money he didn’t always spend it wisely quickly earning him a reputation as a bit of a playboy driver, a reputation that has dogged him throughout his F1 career.

During the last fifteen years I have met and interviewed Jenson many times and never found him to be the sort of arrogant wastrel he is often portrayed as by the red tops. On the contrary I always found him to be charming, friendly and likeable. I have also never found anyone inside F1 with a bad word to say about him, he is, unusually, both liked and respected up and down the pitlane.

Yet in many ways the last 9 years in F1 have been bit like his earlier career with flashes of brilliance interspersed with long periods of being just a journeyman driver. Even some of his staunchest allies have had their doubts that he had the talent to really go all the way to the very top. The podiums were slow to come, until this season only 1 win - in Hungary – was on his score sheet.

I often thought in the last couple of years that in many ways Jenson’s career could be compared with that of Sir Stirling Moss, indeed, they have great respect for each other. Stirling could probably have won even more races and even been a worthy F1 champion if he had not always preferred to drive British cars rather than any other even when they were clearly the worst cars on the grid.

Similarly, many have felt Jenson stayed loyal to Honda too long. Accepted they looked after him very well but they never gave him a car he could really shine in and then pulled the plug when it suited them leaving him and the rest of the team with a bleak – or no - future at the end of 2008.

But the collection of people that had been Honda F1 had one ace in their pack, Ross Brawn. Persuaded to return from a sabbatical and already having guided Benetton and Ferrari to 6 World Championships, Ross, when we met him early in 2008, clearly had massive belief that the team and its drivers, could deliver. In the absence of anyone else coming in to buy the team Ross put his money behind that belief and his name over the door.

For Brawn GP 2009 has been a fairytale season. The new car was immediately quick. They won the first 7 races. And despite having a lower scoring mid-season they have now captured both the Drivers and Constructors titles in their first year of existence. Truly remarkable.

Congratulations to Jenson and to all at Brawn … everything they have achieved is much deserved, determination, talent and hard work proving to be an unbeatable combination.

Graham Benge