Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso backs Button to stay at McLaren

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Fernando Alonso has said he wants to see Jenson Button remain as his team mate at McLaren for another season.

The team currently has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choosing it driver-line-up for 2016 with both official test and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen and GP2 star Stoffel Vandoorne both keen to secure themselves a full-time race seat in Formula One with the team.

But as far as double world champion Fernando Alonso is concerned, his current team mate remains the best choice.

"Jenson has been quite good all season," said Alonso. "We've been working together very closely to help the team.

"The experience Jenson has, it has been very important for the upgrades we have brought to the car, in terms of the power unit and aerodynamics," he pointed out.

"If Jenson stays I think it's a good thing for the team.

"If they decide they need to change something there will be some advantages and some disadvantages for the team, I guess.

"The only thing I can say, the only thing I know for sure, is working with Jenson has been very, very productive for the team and for myself, learning a lot of things," he added. "Working with the other guys, I cannot tell much."

Button himself has said that he wants to see the matter resolved one way or another "in the next few weeks."

The team has increasingly signalled that Button is likely to be retained for another season, with racing director Eric Boullier

"Fernando is a yes and we do intend to keep Jenson," Boullier told CNN this week. "We have a deadline if we want to activate options. There are discussions ongoing and we will see."

His words echo a similar answer he gave at the FIA press conference in Monza two weeks ago.

"We have two world champions today and we do intend to keep them," he had said, while admitting that he also wanted to see Magnussen and Vandoorne get their chance as well.

"Obviously we expect the four of them to race. As far as we are concerned, at McLaren we have only two cars, so there will be only two race seats.

"It’s a luxury problem to have four good drivers," he acknowledged. "Kevin and Stoffel are very good drivers, both of them we expect to race Formula One.

"If we can’t fit or accommodate them at home we will do our best to make sure they can race next year," he added.

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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.