Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button's future uncertain despite Dennis comments

Jenson Button's future at McLaren remains in doubt despite comments from Ron Dennis regarding his contract.

Dennis told Sky Sports over the British Grand Prix weekend he isn't thinking about drivers because Button has a two year contract. While Dennis' comments are strictly true, Button's deal is structured as a one-plus-one contract, meaning both sides must take up an option to extend his stay in to 2016.

Button was originally set to leave McLaren at the end of last season, with F1i understanding Kevin Magnussen was told he would be remaining with the team before shareholder Mansour Ojjeh stated a desire to retain the 2009 world champion instead.

With McLaren currently having both Magnussen and GP2 championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne waiting in the wings, it is set for a big decision over who will partner Fernando Alonso next season. Dennis has previously confirmed Alonso is on a "straight" three-year deal.

Racing director Eric Boullier told F1i there will be a decision to make in future, but McLaren has yet to reach that time.

"We don't know yet, we are not talking about drivers yet," Boullier said. "We have an option we can address later in the year and obviously the discussion will start later in the year."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.