Jerez F1 Test: Button: McLaren-Honda has an exciting future
Jenson Button describes himself as ‘a kid in a candy store’ when he returned to action with McLaren-Honda, adding that he has full belief in the project
Jenson Button firmly believes McLaren’s new ‘one team’ collaboration with Honda has an exciting future, despite its inauspicious beginnings in pre-season testing.
The Englishman was due to get his first laps in the car on the second day of F1 testing, but ongoing technical issues would consign him to the garage for much of the day.
Completing just six slow laps – identical to that of Fernando Alonso a day earlier -, the Honda-powered car’s lack of mileage has inevitably generated discussion in Jerez.
Even so, Button is unmoved by the immediate troubles, preferring to look into the future and the potential of the project itself. Crucially for him, he feels Honda’s exclusive supply deal with McLaren creates ‘one team with one goal’, rather than two separate factions.
“It is nice to be a part of the new era of McLaren-Honda,” he said. “I think it has a very exciting future but as we know these things take a little bit of time. I think the atmosphere in the team is very good, I think that is key for everyone to remember. It is not McLaren with an engine manufacturer, it is one team and one goal.
Despite the brief appearance, Button says he thrilled to be getting back into action and not because his future was undecided coming into the off-season.
“I felt like a kid again getting in the car, but it was for different reasons – not because I thought I might not be racing in F1. It’s more because of what I have underneath me in terms of how good a job the guys have done and working with Honda again. That’s why I feel like a kid in a candy shop.”
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