Button believes that McLaren can compete with Red Bull
When interviewed by the Daily Mail, Jenson Button reaffirmed his desire to continue in Formula 1 for the next two seasons and hopes that regulatory changes and lessons learned from the failures of 2013 will allow the "Greys" to compete with Red Bull.
After three consecutive seasons where McLaren was among Red Bull’s main rivals, the year /f1/actualite/16543-officiel-sergio-perez-quitte-mclaren.html has been disappointing for the Woking team, which didn’t even manage to reach the podium for the first time since the 1980 season.
A lack of results that, among other reasons, led to Sergio Pérez’s departure just after joining the team, being replaced by Kevin Magnussen, a young McLaren hopeful and recent Formula Renault 3.5 champion, for the 2014 season.
Alongside the young Dane, Jenson Button will be returning for his fifth consecutive season with McLaren and his fourteenth straight year in F1. His experience should be beneficial as many changes are expected in the upcoming seasons: « There are exciting years ahead regarding 2014 and the new rules, and with our new engine supplier Honda in 2015, so I want to be part of it for the next two years, obviously. »
The 2009 world champion believes he still has the desire necessary to achieve great things: « Today, I am 33 years old and I have been in Formula 1 for 14 years. It seems incredibly long, and when I started at 20, I would never have thought I would be racing in my thirties. But I still feel young enough – even if I have a ridiculous beard at the moment – and personally, I feel that I still have what it takes to succeed. » With 247 Grand Prix races under his belt, Jenson Button has surpassed David Coulthard in terms of British drivers who have participated in the most races, placing him fifth in the list of drivers with the most entries. He will likely surpass Jarno Trulli (252 GP) and then Riccardo Patrese (256 GP) in 2014.
The Brit hopes that the F1 season and its share of disappointments will be the foundation for McLaren’s success: « Having had a bad year like this, we’ve really learned a lot from our mistakes, and I think if you learn from those mistakes, it makes you a better team, and it has really bonded us. » The best result for a McLaren this season is a fourth place in the final race, in Brazil.
To the question of whether it will be possible to compete with Red Bull, the Frome native is cautiously optimistic: « Yes [it will be possible]. It’s a simple question. Red Bull has done a great job […] but the rules haven’t really changed much over these four years and now, they are going to change a lot. I’m heading into 2014 thinking that we can win, but whether we will produce the car for it is another question. »
