Button, 35, faces an uncertain future in Formula One and Sunday’s race at Silverstone might be his last British Grand Prix.
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Fernando Alonso has absolved himself of responsibility in the accident that took himself and Kimi Raikkonen out of the Austrian Grand Prix following suggestions he may have in fact tapped his rival into the offending spin.
While Alonso concedes the next few races will be tough, with his aim this weekend is to get to the finish following four retirements, the Spaniard is expecting a “completely different” auto after the summer break.
However, Button is convinced McLaren and their engine supplier Honda, who have desperately struggled on their return to Formula One, will soon be back on track.
The confidence is high within the team.
“The team worked very hard in Austria with the limited running we had due to the bad weather and we’ve completed a solid and varied test programme to arm us with a lot of useful information”. “You might say why is that, as the last two races have been very hard, which they have, but there is a massive belief within the team that we will improve”.
His contract with McLaren expires at the end of the current campaign and it is unclear whether he will be given the opportunity to extend his grand prix career into a 17th season with the team.
‘I didn’t watch the Formula E race in London last weekend and though I have watched a race this year, it was only because of the drivers, not the cars themselves.
“Normally they get rained on, but still pretty much every year it’s a full house, whatever the conditions, which is fantastic”.
Ninety per cent of the 217,000 fans who replied to the questionnaire want the sport to be more entertaining.
Lewis Hamilton, despite being the reigning world champion and boasting a greater social media following than any other driver, failed to make the top three.
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“Although we aren’t where we want to be in terms of performance, we know the fans will be behind us, and I know I can speak for everyone in the team when I say it really does lift everyone and makes this weekend one of the really, truly, special ones of the year. Kimi after the race said he lost the vehicle and even with that still 15 days later we are talking about the same people, so people are sick because I don’t understand”. “These are all things that are interesting and hopefully they will happen in the future”.
