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Button future 'to be decided in September'

Veteran driver Jenson Button has indicated that he will be making decisions about his future in Formula One next month in September, and that he hadn't yet had any discussions with McLaren about staying with the team for another season.

"I haven't talked to the team yet," the 36-year-old confirmed this week.

"In September, we're going to sit down and have a chat and decide whether I want to be racing in Formula One, or whether they want me racing in Formula One, or what the decision is."

Button started his Grand Prix racing career with Williams in 2000 before moving to Benetton the following season. In 2003 he began a long-term relationship with Honda by switching to the BAR team. He moved to McLaren in 2010 after winning the world championship the previous season with Brawn GP.

After finishing second in the world championship the following year, Button has since slid down the championship rankings with 2015 being a particular low point as Honda retuned to Formula One as an engine manufacturer and struggled to get on an even footing with the rival teams. At one point it looked as though Button might call time on his Grand Prix career at the end of last year but instead he agreed a one-year extension to stay at McLaren alongside Fernando Alonso.

While the team's form has markedly improved over the first half of the 2016 season, McLaren has Stoffel Vandoorne waiting in the wings eager for a full time drive in Button's place. Button himself has been liked with a move back to where it all began with Williams with deputy team principal Claire Williams calling Button as "an attractive proposition" for their 2017 line-up.

However Williams also warned that she had her own timetable for signing next year's drivers: "We will own our driver line-up decision, and I am not sat here waiting for [McLaren CEO] Ron Dennis to make his decision or for Jenson to make his decision,” Williams told Press Association Sport this week, with Force India's Serio Perez and GP2 star ALex Lynn also believed to be among those under consideration.

With Button due to make his 300th Formula One start next month, there are growing indications that Button might prefer to seek other challenges rather than settling for another Formula One seat, with a switch to WEC racing a strong possibility.

"If I'm not racing in Formula One next year, I don't know where I'm going to be," he said, adding that he would "have some fun."

"I have lived my whole life by a schedule, and suddenly I won't be living by a schedule which will be the first time in my 18 years as an adult, which is really exciting, whenever that does happen.

"There are so many options - not just in motorsport but in other sports, and in life."

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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.