1335 replies to this topic

[OSX]

Really disappointing to see Jenson keeping race seat over Kevin. It's such a boring pairing of drivers. Oh, well...

[F1ultimate]

Who wants to take bets on Lewis replacing Button in 2017 for the 10th anniversary of Alonso vs Hamilton?? 

[10e10]

Well, I'm really glad the team has made a decision, and in my opinion, the best decision.

 

Now, with insight ( ), it was a difficult decision for the team for some reasons. First, the arrival of Alonso, as a great driver he is, could and still can be troublesome, let's hope not. Second, the other driver. While many of us agree, me included, that Jenson is the best solution, specially on short term, one has to wonder if the contracts extensions were the real trouble. Let's look what the real picture, they have two drivers that could have one year contract, and leave their young prospects without a drive, and see their current drivers leave after only one season and harm the team because they didn't secured their drivers. Maybe all this wait was to make sure the team wasn't harmed by desertion of their current drivers and, at the same time, try not to harm their younger drivers who could be the short term future of the team. I hope I made myself clear.

[DS27]

Oh boy, just in from work to hear this news and i'm still coming to terms with the fact that the picture of Ron and Fernando isn't photo-shopped.

[Spillage]

Really disappointing to see Jenson keeping race seat over Kevin. It's such a boring pairing of drivers. Oh, well...

I know, right. I'm sick of teams pairing world champions. So dull. Never ever leads to fireworks.

[ATM]

Well, if the car will be a dud, perhaps it won't be so dull. With both Alonso and Button in the middle of the pack, we're bound to see some feisty racing (at least from Alonso). Button is more refrained, even in the pack. 

 

Of course, if the car will be good, then yeah, it might be dull...Those 2 guys have proven several times they can bring home a good car without any cheap thrills. Yawn feast, no silly accidents, no agricultural works, no stupid running into the walls...

 

Anyway, looks like a safe driver decision from McLaren. 

Edited by ATM, 11 December 2014 - 17:15.

[keshav]

Alonso seems much more level headed than the arrogant Alonso of 2007. I think Alonso himself knows how important his tenure in McLaren is. No doubt this partnership will work.

[MrAerodynamicist]

Not sure if anyone has commented on this: another season for Jenson will see him third in the McLaren longevity stakes, behind only DC and Mika. (He's currently tied with Ayrton on 96 starts.). Two years would see him surpass Mika. 

[ElDictatore]

So I guess Fernando is allowed to keep his beard?

[LuckyStrike1]

Really disappointing to see Jenson keeping race seat over Kevin. It's such a boring pairing of drivers. Oh, well...

 

Well since the option was the completely anonymous Magnussen the younger they at least went for the less boring option available to them. 

[FNG]

So glad they kept Button! Going to be an interesting year!

[MinT]

Great news !  ..and the obvious choice even if it did take RD several months to see what most other people could see immediately.

 

Good luck to JB next season - hope the car isn't yet another turkey.

 

hard luck to KM but he may get another chance with McLaren or another team by staying around the circus.  If I was JB's manager I would also be talking to Williams early about Massa's seat for 2016....

 

If this long drawn out saga has shown us one thing - its that 99.9% of the F1 "news" sites are totally clueless for most of the time and fill their pages with made up rubbish.

 

Even last night after it was pretty much confirmed JB was in they were still talking about KM out and Stoffel as the 2nd driver and Button on1 yr only etc etc  Basically anything they could get wrong - they did.

[Lemans]

I'm so glad Ron felt he did not need to apologize to fans for the long wait.

[mclarensmps]

Terms like "liars" and "hypocrites" refer to what people say, contracts have nothing to do with it.

 

No capital crime is involved, but when people are exposed as such, they tend to get a bad press. I'm not saying that RD or EB deserve that kind of labelling, because I don't know what's really going on. McLaren have chosen to make it appear that they are finding it difficult to decide between Jenson and Kevin, but maybe that's not the real situation.

 

It's not just Jenson fans who are outraged, Jenson has always had as many detractors as fans. The fact is, he's made it very clear with his driving that he deserves to be preferred to Kevin, and only the most extreme haters (or delusional Kevin fans) will fail to acknowledge that.

 

Liars, Hypocrites, Jury, Fuss, Haters, and Delusions are just some words that come to mind. 

[BRG]

The really important question is whether there has ever been a F1 team with two bearded drivers before?  We need to know.

[mclarensmps]

It isn't a real beard until it's at least reached Ertl levels. Hiedfeld came closest!

[ButtonForEver]

[BillBald]

Liars, Hypocrites, Jury, Fuss, Haters, and Delusions are just some words that come to mind. 

 

Did I get something wrong?

[femi]

Don't know if this has been posted, but Ron took Jenson the cleaners:

http://www.telegraph...itle-again.html

[Gary Davies]

I'm so glad Ron felt he did not need to apologize to fans for the long wait.

I'm sure apologies are due to various parties for the long wait but truly, I can see not one valid reason why on earth fans are due an apology. 

 

Look at it this way... it's been great entertainment for fans (apart from those few poor anguished souls who take the whole thing so seriously that they need to get a life).

[mclarensmps]

Did I get something wrong?

 

Maaaaaaybe just a little  !

[KWSN - DSM]

Don't know if this has been posted, but Ron took Jenson the cleaners:

http://www.telegraph...itle-again.html

 

8 million per year is hardly the cleaners.

 

[BillBald]

Maaaaaaybe just a little  !

 

Well, they ended up making the right decision, but we still don't know how they got there.

 

Maybe I should be taking all the credit?

[KnucklesAgain]

 

Hold on to the feeeeeeeeeeeeling ...

 

Fernando looks old and fat in this one 

[Raikkonen94]

Don't know if this has been posted, but Ron took Jenson the cleaners:

http://www.telegraph...itle-again.html

 

How much did he earn the past seasons? £8 million still isn't too bad though!

[Giz]

Button and Alonso

/thread

[femi]

8 million per year is hardly the cleaners.
 

Nobody wants to beg for a 30% pay cut - lol

[femi]

How much did he earn the past seasons? £8 million still isn't too bad though!

I think it is in the story. About 12mil I think...

[jimmonson]

Nobody wants to beg for a 30% pay cut - lol

 

 No , but when your alternatives are  less than that , it still makes good sense to take the £8 million . This does show though that Jenson is not simply in it for the money alone , he loves to be F1 racing .  All along his wish has been to be there with McLaren / Honda .  He has succeeded in retaining his place to be able to do just that .  Nice going Jenson , and £8 million isn't too shabby either .

[bogi]

My respect and love for Jenson is endless, even after all this mess he said,

 

"My heart has always been here - to race for McLaren, and to race with Honda.

 

 

He loves McLaren, and every true McLaren fan should respect him as they respect Mika.

[MirNyet]

Well, Ron more or less said that the reason for the delay was financial, related to the potential cost of running 3rd cars and the cost of Jenson himself, which took a bit of negotiating.

 

However, parts of that are difficult to fathom. One would think that a simple deadline to agree a deal with JB could have been imposed to an earlier date. And the cost of running the 3rd car would have been the same whoever was driving it, plus Magnussens salary cost of about £0.5m. I find it very difficult to believe the delay has been caused by a £0.5m issue. 

 

Anyway, this doesn't appear to have been a McLareneque deep analysis of "all the available (performance) data" that Ron claimed a couple of months ago. 

 

I said a while back that the reason the choice could have ended up at the boardroom level was spend. Button has simply been too expensive and his management team have dragged it out.

 

On the subject of the third car - its the making, shipping and running of the car which is the hit - not the cost of the driver as their processes are all based around running and transporting 2 cars, 3 would be a large additional spend well beyond the half mill for the driver.

[BARHonda006]

I think it is in the story. About 12mil I think...

And you call 8 mil begging? Lol

[MirNyet]

And you call 8 mil begging? Lol

 

A step backwards in money of course - hardly begging. I would be interested to know if Button himself overrode his management team and accepted the lower McLaren offer or did his team find an agreeable sum. If it was Buttons call - then credit to him on putting the drive ahead of coin. Its sad that he's had to take a pay cut to keep the drive but at least we know he wants it.

Edited by MirNyet, 11 December 2014 - 22:41.

[colonelbadger]

No , but when your alternatives are less than that , it still makes good sense to take the £8 million . This does show though that Jenson is not simply in it for the money alone , he loves to be F1 racing . All along his wish has been to be there with McLaren / Honda . He has succeeded in retaining his place to be able to do just that . Nice going Jenson , and £8 million isn't too shabby either .

He proved that in 2009 when he practically drove for free for Brawn.

[WitnessX]

Don't know if this has been posted, but Ron took Jenson the cleaners:

http://www.telegraph...itle-again.html

 

I doubt that more than a handful of people know the details of the contracts.

 

It's dangerous to base conclusions on a "rumoured" base salary, they are not as simple as that. Kimi's base salary for example 2013 was half of what they owed him at the end of the season.

 

However having said that I would classify Byron Young (DM) as a credible source and has a good relationship to F1 drivers:

 

Nov. 11th

http://www.mirror.co...-button-4609303

 

Sources close to McLaren have suggesting Alonso will get a record F1 salary if he switches teams but that is just the usual Woking hype.
Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton will all be earning more.
And MirrorSport understands Dennis is striking a hard bargain.
The double-champion is talking to new Spanish sponsors, among them are Telefonica brand Moviestar.

 

Without a title sponsor for nearly two years McLaren are also trying to save money by making Button accept a pay cut.
They tried the same tactic with Lewis Hamilton two years ago and it resulted in him quitting the team for Mercedes.

 

....

[SophieB]

As there is a thread to discuss who - it transpired - will be driving for 2015, I don't think we need this one too. Discussion continued here: http://forums.autosp...laren-for-2015/