October 1, 2015 – McLaren has ended speculation about Jenson Button’s future by announcing on Thursday that the Briton is staying at the Honda-powered team in 2016.
McLaren chairmain Ron Dennis said in a statement: “Jenson and I have been discussing his plans in private for the past few weeks, and the fact that our talks have led to today’s announcement is very pleasing to both of us and will delight and motivate all at McLaren-Honda.
“As I have made clear whenever I have been asked about the subject, Jenson’s current contract is of two years’ duration [2015 and 2016]. There is a ‘terminate after year one’ option that McLaren could have triggered if we had wished to do so, but, once it became clear from my many conversations with Jenson that he remained as enthusiastic and as committed and as focused as ever, that option immediately became an irrelevance.”
Button, meanwhile, said: “Over the past month or so I have done quite a lot of thinking, and it is no secret that I was at one point in two minds about my future.”
“Ron and I have had some very good chats these past few weeks, and during those chats it has become clear to me that Ron is both utterly determined and uniquely equipped to lead our team through its current difficulties to great successes in the future,” he added.