Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren should let drivers race - Button

Jenson Button wants McLaren to let him race team-mate Fernando Alonso in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Only one McLaren started the opening race in Australia as Alonso’s replacement Kevin Magnussen stopped on his way to the grid with a power unit failure. With Button finishing the race two laps down, he admits the Malaysian Grand Prix is likely to see the two McLarens having their own battle and he expects the team will allow them to fight on track.

“I think they’ll let us race,” Button said when asked by F1i if the focus would be on completing a race distance again. “And I think you’ll be right, I think it will be us on our own racing! Hopefully [we can fight], it would be good fun. I’m sure they will.”

McLaren showed some encouraging signs during first practice at Sepang on Friday, with Alonso and Button completing 39 laps between them and both cars at the back of the midfield, setting best times within three seconds of the pace set by Nico Rosberg.

Button said on Thursday that he has no concerns racing the MP4-30 despite Alonso’s claims that his pre-season testing accident was caused by the steering locking, with the problem undetected on the team’s data.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Malaysian Grand Prix

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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.