Chris
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After the conclusion of the current Formula One season, it is believed that the 35 year old Briton will begin competing in sports cars next season in the World Endurance Championship where he'll likely be snapped up by one of the top LMP1 teams as drivers with his experience, consistency, pace and friendly approach to teamwork are a rare occurrence.
If the rumours are to be believed, then Porsche would be a likely choice as they seem to have the most competitive car in terms of outright pace, and Buttons' long time friend Mark Webber is part of the team, which even current McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso has eluded to as being a massive lure away from Formula One.
If Button were to wind up driving an Endurance car next year, it would seemingly be a perfect fit, as Buttons driving style is almost perfectly suited to that of Endurance racing, more particularly Buttons ability to generate smooth steering inputs for maximisation of tyre life, which has seen him succeed in the Pirelli-dominated era that Formula One currently finds itself in. However, in recent times, the two categories have somewhat flipped the script thanks to measures introduced to F1 in order to add more strategy and variability to the racing. The WEC has become six hour sprint races while Formula One appears to be a 90 minute endurance race.
A large contributing factor to such an announcement would surely be placed at the foot of the utterly dismal performance of the McLaren-Honda partnership. A partnership that generated a vast amount of hype prior to the start of the 2015 season primarily due to the rich heritage that Honda and McLaren share in Formula One, particularly in the famous turbo era of the 1980's. Button and Alonso began the season by stating their optimism, despite being way off the pace, that the McLaren-Honda partnership would gel at some point this season and that they would be challenging the Mercedes'. However, the more races that went by, the more it became apparent that the drivers and the team were losing faith in the Honda power unit, which is rumoured to be deficient to the Mercedes and Ferrari power units by a whopping 200 horsepower. Despite the positive snippets coming from their mouths, it was readily apparent that frustrations were brewing.
The question is though: Is this too early for Button to be calling it quits? Despite the catastrophic performances from McLaren-Honda so far, Jenson has produced some the best drives of his career. And when his highly esteemed teammates' car hasn't been breaking down, Button has been more than a formidable opponent to the Spaniard. It would appear there's still life in the old dog yet.
Stick and stay with RaceDepartment.com for all the developments of the coming weekend in Japan, and Jenson Button's future in motorsport.
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