It’s official: Kevin Magnussen continues with McLaren-Honda along with Fernando Alonso And Jenson Button
Jenson Button WILL race for McLaren in the 2015 Formula One season, the F1 team has confirmed.
Kevin Magnussen will stay with the team as a test and reserve driver.
Button said: “I am extremely excited to be embarking on my 16th year in Formula 1 and my sixth season for McLaren.
“Like Fernando, I am certain that McLaren and Honda will achieve great things together, and I feel sure that, working together, all of us will pull incredibly hard to create a brilliantly effective winning team.
#McLarenDrivers2015 confirmed: Fernando Alonso & Jenson Button, the new era of McLaren-Honda: tinyurl.com/l3ljxlh http://t.co/dKUp9hfPvu—
McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 11, 2014
Sky Sports News HQ’s Craig Slater has more from outside McLaren
“We’ve seen Jenson Button arrive here at the McLaren Technology Centre this morning, Kevin Magnussen is also here and we expect him to drop down to reserve driver after just one season in the sport. Button will partner Fernando Alonso who will be confirmed as the team’s big money signing from Ferrari.
“It is a mouth-watering line-up McLaren have in two-time champion Alonso and 2009 champion Button.
“There are lots of questions to be answered though – why did it take so long to come to this decision? What promoted the board to eventually prefer Button to Magnussen? And perhaps most intriguingly of all, how has it been possible for Alonso and Ron Dennis to bury the hatchet after they parted in such acrimony in 2007? If you remember it was Alonso’s revelations that eventually prompted the Spygate investigation that saw McLaren thrown out of the Constructors’ Championship and fined.”
Expected 2015 F1 grid
Ahead of McLaren’s official statement regarding their team for next year, here is how we expect the Formula 1 grid to look in 2015
- McLaren: Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button (reserve driver: Kevin Magnussen).
- Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
- Red Bull: Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo.
- Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.
- Williams: Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
- Sauber: Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.
- Force India: Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
- Toro Rosso: Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr.
- Lotus: Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean.
Photo: 2014 driver line up.
Andrew Benson from the BBC reports that Jenson Button secures McLaren seat alongside Fernando Alonso
Andrew Benson writes:
Jenson Button is to partner Fernando Alonso at McLaren next season. The team are to announce their driver line-up at a news conference at their factory in Surrey on Thursday. But BBC Sport has learned they have decided to retain Button after weeks of leaning towards Kevin Magnussen. Button, the 34-year-old 2009 world champion, will continue into a 16th season and has his wish granted to test himself against the man widely regarded as the best in F1. McLaren signed Alonso some weeks ago, but had been vacillating over the identity of his team-mate.
Kevin Magnussen continues as McLaren-Honda F1 driver in 2015
[Not Official] The press conference is tomorrow Thursday at 10am, but it has already been revealed by a reliable source that Kevin Magnussen will continue as a McLaren-Honda driver in 2015.
The Daily Mail and The Telegraph report that Jenson Button will be staying, in which case the Dane’s status will be reduced to reserve driver.
UPDATE! BBC also reports that Jenson Button will partner with Fernando Alonso for 2015.
Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton surprises nine-year-old racer Harley Haughton
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