McLaren: Button’s 2014 team mate not signed yet

2014 F1 season

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McLaren say they have not yet signed a driver to replace Sergio Perez but indicated Jenson Button will remain with the team next year.

Perez confirmed on Wednesday he will be leaving McLaren next year.

“First of all, we would like to thank Checo for his kind and gracious statement, and for being a fine team member during the 2013 Formula One season,” said team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

“We wish him well for the future, and are sure that he will have many successes ahead of him,” he added.

“As regards our driver line-up for next year, no 2014 deal has yet been signed with any driver except Jenson, and we therefore have nothing further to announce at this time,” Whitmarsh continued. “As and when that situation progresses, we will make a further announcement accordingly.”

McLaren have been tipped to promote their development driver Kevin Magnussen to their race team next year.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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74 comments on “McLaren: Button’s 2014 team mate not signed yet”

  1. Very Vince McMahonish comment there from Whitmarsh.

    All that was missing were the words “future endeavors”.

    1. And “massive”, dont forget massive.

  2. Fabio Leimer for the seat!!!!

    1. Why, when they’ve got Kevin Magnussen?

  3. Just because they have not signed Magnussen does not mean they don’t want him to drive next year.

  4. McLaren … or how to kill the career of a lid of the Ferrari Academy in one year …

    1. Someone in the academy is bound to be laughing.

  5. Suddenly the possibility of Hulkenberg joining Mclaren for next season seems very real. Apparently Hulkenberg for some reason said NO to driving for Lotus at the last two races. And besides that .. why wouldn’t Mclaren announce their new driver at the same time it becomes public that their current driver won’t be with them next year? It seems a bit weird to me. That did so when Hamilton left last year.

    1. But don’t you want Hulk to get a top seat…?

    2. I would have thought Hülkenberg thought he could achieve a better result in the Sauber, as he would only have a maximum of 4 hours to learn the car and get up to speed with it, and if Grosjean destroys him, that could reflect badly on his career.
      Seeing as that is relatively likely to happen, I commend him for turning down the Lotus seat for the final 2 races.

      1. +1.

        Let’s not forget what happened to Fisi in 2009, after nearly beating Kimi to Ferrari’s only win in the Force India, and then jumping straight in as Kimi’s team-mate.

    3. @me4me Hulk probably said no to Lotus because it’d not be safe for him to drive an unknown car if they didn’t assure him a seat, which I understand they didn’t.

      Better to stay at Sauber and not ruin it all. Besides he can always stay there if the Lotus deal falls.

      As for McLaren, Whitmarsh himself ruled Nico out, saying he’s too heavy…

    4. That’s because Ferrari gave Hulk his unpaid salary in return for him to not race the final two races for Enstone.
      Link: http://blog.axisofoversteer.com/2013/11/ferrari-paid-hulkenbergs-salary-to.html

  6. They should have dropped Button instead of Perez. Button is too expensive for what he brings to the team. He is not in the league of the top 4 and cost the same if not more than they do.

    1. He’s a World Champion and he outscored Hamilton whilst they were team-mates. I agree he probably can’t win in a car not capable of it, but give him a good car and he’ll bring wins.

      1. No driver wins in car not capable of it.

        1. Alonso. Malaysia. 2012.

          1. Extreme wet weather. Remember when Nick Heidfeld was third in that piece of scrap metal that was the BMW Sauber F1.09?

            Wet weather is the great equaliser.

        2. Prost, 1986.

        3. Button, Hungary 2006.

      2. he outscored him in 1 year

        1. No, on aggregate across the three years.

    2. Perez hasn’t even scored 60% of what Button has this year. While he is certainly more expensive, he is most certainly worth it. Compared to Perez anyway. And that is just from a pure results perspective.

    3. Im sure all teams use some points/$ or $/points rates to differentiate between the drivers, but it is only one aspect of it.

    4. Not hard to sore more points when one driver have massive issues during one year when he was clearly better.

    5. You have to remember that Button brings a couple of very important things to the team, experience and consistency. Button can win, we all know this but he needs a stable car to do it, to have a young driver who is genuinely fast is good but risky and having Button there brings stability to the pair.

      I can understand why they got rid of Perez, he just hasn’t delivered. Perez needed to outperform Button more often than not, he need to show that he has raw pace and the ability to improve his race craft through experience. One year might not have been enough for this and McLaren’s car is terrible but he should at least be putting his car further up the grid in qualifying than Button.

  7. I’d like to think I got a shot.

  8. Strange how they never seem to really confirm Button.

  9. I have a sneaky feeling… that a certain Nico, wich last name starts with H and ends with ulkenberg, might be the chosen one.

    1. I hope so.. its a safer bet than Magnussen.

      But then again.. Whitmarsh had mentioned something about a driver’s size being an important criteria for choosing a driver

      1. But then isnt NH the same height as JB?

        1. He’s heavier

  10. nicolas nogaret
    14th November 2013, 9:53

    they should take magnussen
    2014 is going to be a bit of a ‘gap’ year , no guarantee of success no matter who they take ; no better time to ‘blood’ a rookie

  11. Haus Diskret Schweinfurt.

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