Button: First season will be 'tough' for Vandoorne

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Jenson Button has warned Stoffel Vandoorne that he has a tough year ahead of him, as the Belgian driver prepares to take over from Button at McLaren in 2017.

"To be fair to Stoffel he's achieved a lot in his career," Button told Sky Sports. "But most drivers who get to drive for McLaren have done a very good job in their career before they get there.

"He's learned so much but it's still a difficult role to be a driver for McLaren. They're one of the biggest teams in the world with so much history, and he'll be alongside Fernando Alonso, so it's tough.

"Hopefully for his sake he does a good job. If he does, he'll have a long and exciting career with McLaren in the future."

Button pointed out that Vandoorne could hardly have had better preparation for his forthcoming role as a full-time Grand prix driver.

Vandoorne staked his claim to the Formula One race seat by clinching the 2015 GP2 Series championship in dominant fashion. This year he's competing in Japanese Super Formula which is allowing him to build valuable links with Honda, McLaren's engine supplier.

""He's had the best schooling because he's been with the team since 2013 and this year he's basically shadowed Fernando and myself. He's been at every race and he's been done everything apart from driving the car.

"But obviously, if you don't perform in your first year that has consequences as well. There's always pressure.

"Also, I'm in the background as well," said Button, who continues to maintain that he is not intending on retiring from Formula One and could yet be back in the car in two years' time after spending a year as a McLaren 'ambassador' and helping out with simulation testing.

"That's one thing Fernando said - I'm the only driver who has a contract for 2018!"

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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.