McLaren-Honda has confirmed its driver line-up for 2015 with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen will remain as test and reserve driver.
“I am joining this project with enormous enthusiasm and determination, knowing that it may require some time to achieve the results we are aiming for, which is no problem for me,” said Alonso. “Over the past year I have received several offers, some of them really tempting, given the current performance of some of the teams that showed interest. But, more than a year ago, McLaren-Honda contacted me and asked me to take part, in a very active way, in the return of their partnership – a partnership that dominated the Formula 1 scene for so long. McLaren-Honda’s repeated and open desire, perseverance and determination in making it possible for me to join their exciting renewed partnership, have been some of the main factors that made me take this decision, not forgetting the most important factor of all: we share a common objective and expectations, and there is a very solid future, with confidence, ahead. I have had in-depth discussions with all the senior people at both McLaren and Honda, I have viewed their fantastic facilities in both the UK and Japan, and it is clear to me that, together, McLaren and Honda are in the process of beginning what is sure to be a long and successful partnership. And I intend to give 100% effort to help make it exactly that.”
Button said that he was excited to go into a sixth season with the team.
“I am certain that McLaren and Honda will achieve great things together,” he said, “and I feel sure that, working together, all of us will pull incredibly hard to create a brilliantly effective winning team. Being a part of new-look McLaren-Honda is a wonderful opportunity for all of us, and I am very pleased to have been invited to do my bit. In fact, I am absolutely raring to go. I am also very glad that Kevin will remain part of the team. He is a very quick driver and a really nice guy. I know the Honda guys well, having driven Formula 1 cars powered by their engines from 2003 to 2008. I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for them, and promise to give 100% to make their partnership with McLaren a success. Last but far from least, I am very much looking forward to having a driver as fast and as experienced as Fernando as my team-mate. I am sure we will work extremely well together.”
McLaren boss Ron Dennis explained the decision to keep Button.
“McLaren’s policy has always been to assemble the strongest line-up possible, and in Fernando and Jenson I firmly believe that is exactly what we have. We signed Fernando a little while ago, but we decided not to announce the fact until we had also re-signed Jenson as his team-mate. For many reasons our negotiations with Jenson took quite a long time, but, now that they have been concluded, we are confident that our collaboration with him will continue to thrive in the future every bit as well as it has in the past. Make no mistake about it, Jenson is 100% committed to McLaren-Honda, to Formula 1, and to winning. As a pair, he and Fernando are supremely experienced. Fernando has started 234 grands prix, has converted 32 of those starts to victories, has stood on a grand prix podium 97 times, and has won the drivers’ world championship not once but twice. He is a class act. He is 33 – which, for an athlete as physically fit as he is, constitutes a Formula 1 driver’s professional prime of life. Moreover, he is old enough to be experienced and expert, yet young enough to be enthusiastic and energetic. I therefore firmly believe he will deploy those four e’s – experience, expertise, enthusiasm and energy – to drive forward McLaren-Honda’s on-track success next season and for quite a few seasons to come. As for Jenson, at 34, he is every bit as fit as Fernando but even more experienced: he has started 266 grands prix, has won 15 of them, and has stood on a grand prix podium 50 times. He, too, is an ex-world champion, and is one of the smoothest and fastest guys out there. Fernando and Jenson have started a combined total of precisely 500 grands prix between them – a mighty aggregate – and have won 47 of them. I can safely say, therefore, that we now have by an order of magnitude the best driver line-up of any current Formula 1 team. Finally, I want to thank and pay tribute to Kevin, who has done a great job this season and will continue to be an integral part of our team. He will be our test, reserve and third driver, and remains an excellent prospect for the future.”
joeblogsf1 
Any news on the contract duration of Button and Alonso?
Yeah, I don’t see this mentioned anywhere ATM.
Perhaps the contact duration was a stumbling block with Jenson?
The team had all the drivers over barrels.
BBC suggesting Jenson is one year with an option on 2016 and Alonso is a 2+1 but a get out clause. Though as always with contracts in F1 I don’t know if this is still guesstimate territory.
I believe that FA’s deal is longer than that without any get-out clauses. Why would McLaren agree to such a thing. They had FA over a barrel.
Maybe they didn’t have him over a barrel when Whitmarsh made the offer the previous year? I’m just guessing – I know the BBC and others are reporting the terms in quite definite terms, including Jenson and Ron saying two years (though 1+1 sounds more likely no?) but you’ve pointed out reporters putting guesses in definite terms before so I wouldn’t know who to follow.
I’d be very surprised if McLaren gave JB a solid two-year deal. Why would you do that? You’ve got exciting young drivers backed up behind. If JB stays the youngsters will go… They are not going to sit around and wait for long. And it will be even worse next year if Vandoorne wins GP2 the teams will two fast guys sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
Just read that both drivers are multi year contracts, JB’s is 2 years and his was only signed last night, Fernando’s was signed weeks ago.
I doubt that it is a two-year contract
Talk of JB’s wages cut in half too, perhaps more of performance related pay and maybe an option for a second year if he hits certain targets.
Very happy for Jenson regardless, top pro. Magnussen will get his chance again I’m sure.
The current trend is for reduced retainers and big bonuses for wins and so on.
Makes sense, Button mentioned that his points were worth ‘x’ to the team, why not accept a lower salary and then a subsequent cut of his contribution to their winnings.
points related pay requires reliability though, unless it pays on position when the engine failed
Nice PR. Now, Joe, would you ben so kind to transalate all this PR mambo jambo in words that can enable us to get the gist of it?
Namely, what does it tell us about “who’s the boss” at McLaren?
Let’s wait and see, shall we. We should know one way or the other fairly soon.
Intriguing arrangement. Alonso is contracted to Honda I believe from what has been divulged over the weeks, as well as McLaren….? which part of this dual employment contract has precedence?
“We signed Fernando a little while ago, but we decided not to announce the fact until we had also re-signed Jenson as his team-mate. For many reasons our negotiations with Jenson took quite a long time,”
Ronspeak for we couldn’t persuade Lego to ride the “Danish wave”??
I think that is a very unlikely story
I bow to your superior knowledge Joe (honestly) but it would be difficult to imagine, had Lego become the large sponsor McLaren wanted, that they would have been happy with Mag not racing the car though.. or have I failed to grasp the finer points of this?
Can anyone tell me whether there has ever been a season before with two different teams each having two former world champions as drivers?
Great question and can’t off the top of my head. In 1985, you had Lauda & Prost at McLaren when Prost joined Lauda as a world-champion. You had Keke Rosberg and Mansell at Williams, but, of course, Nigel would have to wait until 1992 for his world-championship.
Off the top of my head I would have to say McLaren 1974 when they had Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme who scored Championships elsewhere (Lotus and Brabham respectively)
1968 started with Clark and Hill at Lotus and Hulme and Brabham at Brabham.
So is JB a number 2??? Ron makes out like they wanted him to sign but he was the one that was holding back.
Do you know Joe?
McLaren was in a position of power in all negotiations. Thus I would expect FA, JB and KM to be cheaper deals than one would expect. perhaps they will say otherwise but it makes no sense that McLaren gave too much away.
It reads like Horner cooked Alonso’s goose the minute he signed Kvyat, which was seconds after Vettel announced Ferrari {and it was Horner who made that announcement too}. That moment, Alonso’s pay prospects at McLaren nose-dived. He had no foothold anywhere, and McLaren could hardly fail to see that.
As Joe says, they had him over a barrel!
There was another quote from Ron that was absolute Ron speak. I read that Jensen has a specific job to do for the team different to Teflon. I took it to mean he will be number 2. I don’t see him doing that but maybe he won’t have to, Teflon might do it fit him. What an interesting season.
Looks like Button helps develop the car, overcomes the teething problems, then Magnussen steps in next year when everything is up to speed?
Drivers don’t ‘develop’ cars now. Button will drive the car, it’ll break and the team will fix it. No team can make substantial changes to a car once the season starts.
I have to add that I don’t believe Button could develop a car anyway. It’s well known he requires a car to be exactly to his requirements before he can race it.
Drivers can develop the car in pre-season and there will be a lot of work to do with the new Honda engine etc. In my opinion, that is one of the key reasons at to why JB has been kept on.
Well it is good news that JB keeps a seat and that Kmag has a chance to consolidate his previous year of experience. The best thing about it will be that we all get the chance to compare Alonso to JB, and that should be a fair contest as there is no opportunity or reason, for the team to favour either driver at this stage in the Mac-Honda partnership. Therefore we will not only have a better idea of how good Ferdy is, but also how good JB is. In turn, we will get another insight into how good Lewis is as well, as all three will have been in the same team together, at some point, and while in the case of Lewis & Alonso, Lewis was a Rookie, Alonso at that time was already a double WCD, and JB became a WCD shortly after the Alonso-Mac divorce. Alonso is widely regarded as the best package out there, but Lewis can also make that claim, now JB has compared well with Lewis, so he has most to gain from being with Alonso, in regard to how he is then assessed when running against two of the best drivers currently in F1. This should be very interesting indeed.
Do you think that Alonso would go back to Mclaren and not have no1 status? Once bitten twice shy me thinks! Sorry, but I think Alonso dictated terms and this is his project now.
Makes no sense.
When I say Alonso dictated terms I meant on his status in the team. I am sure that he will have some form of preferential status in his contract if he is close to a championship. Not that he needs it mind!
And when did McLaren have such things in the past? It is not in the culture. On one occasion RD told DC to get out of the way for MH because he felt it that MH was owed a win and needed it. Beyond that the team does not operate with a number one or a number two.
In the same way when has Alonso ever not had or not wanted preferential treatment? I believe Mclaren will have had to have compromised here to ensure signing Alonso. I’m not advocating a Ferrari clear 1 and 2 of the Todt era but surely this must have been discussed to avoid a repeat of the fall out of 2007. This comes from both sides as clearly Alonso was too sensitive in 2007.
The type of scenarios I’m talking about are where Mclaren in 2007 where Alonso and Hamilton were told to hold station at Monaco. Also, Heiki got out of Hamiltons way in a shot in Germany in ’08. Small things but it’s these little small things that allow a champonship challenge.
Yes I agree. I think it will be very interesting. Lets hope Mclaren build a decent car. They had the best engine last year and struggled with force India, only about £100m year a different budget. They need a kick up the rear.
Joe,
Is this the first time in history that a team has fielded two drivers, both of whom had previously driven for that same team as reigning world champions – in spite of neither of them ever having actually -won- a world championship there? 😉
It’s called Google
Ah, I DO miss the days when Google wasn’t the standard arbiter of reality, and the times when failing to Google it didn’t constitute some kind of social faux pas…
Two formers WDCs with other teams has certainly happened before, eg Fangio (Alfa Romeo) and Ascari (Ferrari) at Maserati for a couple of races in 1954 and Fittipaldi (Lotus) and Hulme (Brabham) at McLaren in 1974, but I’m pretty sure this precise circumstance is unique!
Great observation!
So from all this, which was one of the two mainly expected outcomes, did Ron get the money or is the desert royalty sill in charge?
Clearly Dennis didn’t want Button. For the head of a company to lose such a public fight is no small thing.
Does this suggest Dennis has failed in his bid take over the company? Alternatively, could it indicate that Dennis realized there was no way he could push the driver announcement until his takeover date in January without McLaren being continually pummeled for dithering on their driver decision?
Either way, Dennis has clearly come out of this bloodied. Instead of a positive announcement about Alonso, Button, and Honda, much of today’s coverage will focus on the inside politics at McLaren and the reasons for the delay.
Not a monumental cock up by Dennis, but certainly not a minor one, especially as it was completely an own goal.
I would not be so sure about that, in negotiations, it is always important to have a credible alternative offer. Jensons talks sports cars, Dennis goes to Denmark, I’ll go with Joe that Jenson blinked first….
I have to disagree. Jenson had almost no negotiating power at any point in these proceedings.
Other reports suggest he took a 50% pay cut just to keep the seat. He’d likely have made as much or more by going to sports cars.
This was a battle between Dennis and others within McLaren. The numbers were clearly on Button’s side. He outscored his team mate by over 60%, yet Dennis still wanted his Dane.
For some reason, Dennis blinked. The reasons I’ve listed above seem the most logical.
Well, taking a pay cut is a way of blinking, in my book.
And being able to make more money somewhere else is always a good way to pushing through your wage demands, and is the oppsite of having no negotiating power.
The end result seems to be that they got Button cheaper this way, and we could endlessly ponder and argue whether Ron really preferred Kevin or just used him as a negotiating ploy, maybe there is there is some truth in both theories.
Rereading your comment, Cabby, that looks to be a pretty good explanation for a long “stand off”, and the delay. I’ve felt, oh I usually have this impression, it’s what observers of the unknown, and commentators with a audience are inclined to do regardless, a bit much has been made, elsewhere, of the negotiating tactics and personal stakes.
Sports cars obviously are attractive, but surely WEC is where the action is, and maybe that is why any sports cars team might have to make a very good offer.
There’s also the question of how best to bow out of F1. A delayed negotiation, whether it is simply a long gentlemanly consideration or not, can be in retrospect tinged by suggestion of acrimony or unappealing self interest that can sour the thoughts of future employers, unfortunately. People just disappoint, the disappointed have their gripes, human beings pick on the apparently weak, all stuff of nature that can be carefully managed if done well. Far better to have a planned announcement. Obviously so, but then what does one read into that, when there was no rumor of a planned seat in another series in the waiting, none I heard of anyhow.
All this suggests that Jenson rather did have to hold on to his seat at McLaren. I’d go so far as to say that a hasty withdrawal from F1 and a swift announcement either might not be so fluid, or might otherwise affect his long term value in the market. Even with a high headline salary, there’s always the small print. Strategically, even a substantial, once again headline, pay cut, might maximize his long term earning power. I’m sure all parties are quite at home with considerations like that, and it’s a long time since Jens was youthfully influenced by less than ideal management. When you know your counterparty really well, sometimes everything just is put on the table, along with the constraints, wishes and desires of each, and it can be a puzzle jointly solved. I rather think the sponsorship angle is a bit overplayed in context of Jens’ seat, because many fans and observers are most interested in that, and almost nothing is known, and there’s been a presumption of it being a negotiating ploy on Ron’s part. Honestly I cannot see Ron Dennis, of all people, toying with a big sponsorship like that.
Anyhow, almost everyone seems pretty happy to have Jenson at McLaren for another year, me included. Nothing about it is a kindness or sympathy vote. As Joe seems almost alone in emphasizing, if I read him right, it’s the burgeoning talent pool in the green room, that may be giving the headaches, more so than the intrinsic worth of known talent.
Quote from Ron re Kevin: “He will be our test, reserve and THIRD driver, and remains an excellent prospect for the future.”
Is Ron alluding here to the prospect of three car teams? or am I reading too much into this?
There are not going to be three-car teams in the foreseeable future.
(SIGH) Seems like you can repeat that ad nauseum and people still won’t bother to believe or at least believe it’s your position. Either that or they just like stirring.
Admiring your patience Joe.
I believe Joe re: 3rd cars but I suspect some of this is reaction to Ron openly saying he was hesitating over Jenson and Kevin as he was waiting for the meeting on 3rd cars – like many others I think Ron was talking out of his diffuser on that one – but it’s a valid discussion point to bring up. Just as Joe can validly point out that its bollocks.
Will this project confirm Alonso as a top pedigree star?
Or lose him the chance of winning that accolade for ever?
I don’t believe he wanted to leave Ferrari at all, in spite of all that’s been said. He made a serious error, putting himself ahead of the team.
Usually men learn from mistakes in execution, but rarely from mistakes of character, as they are more difficult to identify. But Alonso is an unusual guy. He may surprise.
Of course, those who sing his praises will not be surprised if [or when] he triumphs!
He’s one of only 16 multiple world champions since 1950.
And one of the 5 drivers since 1950 with the most championship 2nd places.
And the third youngest world champion (at the time he secured the championship).
And the second youngest multiple champion (ditto).
I get that there are some WDCs who are considered to be good but not great, and that not everyone respects Fernando’s character, but I find it pretty hard to question his actual driving ability.
He’s already proven himself a top pedigree star. The only person to not be utterly destroyed by him was Hamilton who is also a top pedigree star by any measure.
By person I team mate of course.
I’m not sure that matters!
Hmm, perhaps good decision for quicker development, two old hands at sorting new cars, but in my opinion, I would have preferred to see an Alonso/VanDoorne driver pairing, with Magnussen reserve.
Or even better, a McLaren B team, with Magnussen & Nasr!
Magnussen and Vandoorne would be a logical 2nd team. Besides Nasr having a contract with Sauber next year, I wonder why McLaren would field a Williams test driver at their 2nd team ahead of their own prospects.
It’s good to know that Jenson’s staying on & Kevin’s still got a job too.
Be great if they use those classic orange & white livery for the ’15 season.
Well, I never saw that coming!
So it was all down to Jenson not signing his contract …?
I think Mr Dennis speaks with forked tongue.
Looking at the photo on the BBC website, I think Fernado’s already won a small victory. Ron will have to think twice before making him wear a suit again!
JB should be wearing a tie with a three-piece suit. Britain, home of the best tailoring… he should know better!
So it was actually JENSON’s fault that it took so long ! LMAO !
Good news for both Button and Magnesson – one needing to perform and the other anxious for the other to trip up!
I can’t wait & fingers crossed the Mclaren Honda package is worthy of 2 world champions
Great that Jenson is staying…wise, wise decision on the part of McLaren
Will this work? My immediate reaction is that Jenson has nothing to lose next year and is a naturally tough competitor. I don’t know…but, if Jenson takes the fight to Alonso, will the toys come out of the pram again?
I like that McLaren used historical statistics to explain how they’ve now got the best driver line-up “by an order of magnitude” no less. Yet the worst Merc driver last year scored almost twice the points of Alonso (who I rate highly). Hmmm..stats are great tools to backup any old story!
More importantly than all this nonsense, last year showed you do need a rather good car to give your drivers any real chance….
These guys are both big boys hey, they respect each other’s achievements. They also share a close friendship with Mark Webber. I think they’re going to get on great actually.
The shit doesn’t really hit the fan in intra-team rivalry unless there is a championship at stake or a lack of communication. Neither are the case here.
One of Ron’s practical concerns with signing JB was perhaps that the resulting driver pact will be very powerful – especially when he’s not reasserted his own authority so far
This is exactly the right decision but only Mclaren knows why it took so long to reach the obvious.Jenson has great history and working relationship with Honda and will be invaluable in accelerating the development of the new partnership and will keep Alonso on his toes without letting his head drop if and when he’s outperformed by Alonso. Magnussen has youth on his side and whilst he’s shown great speed and potential will benefit and learn from his illustrious team mates. When he returns to the race team (2016?) he is likely to be in a race winning car whilst Jenson can move on to WEC on his own terms.
I don’t see why it is obvious. You are betting on future results not deciding on what happened in the past. It is a gamble either way.
But Joe back when Ricciardo was picked over JEV you said it was a crazy decision as teams should only ever pick the driver who scored the most points (then it was JEV, now it’s Jenson) – surely it’s obvious that you pick the driver who outscores and outqualifys their team mate? Gambling on a driver ‘becoming’ good is a bigger gamble than seeing which driver did better last year? Still a gamble obviously but you go with the best evidence you have no?
I’m sure you know best
And to his credit Joe has several times, on the blog and GP+ and Sidepodcast, said Ricciardo’s had a great season and driven well. There’s a huge difference between making a prediction based on the known quantities, which was JEV and Ricciardo’s results; and on saying that all these other factors, which are outside McLaren’s control, will lead to an obvious conclusion.
What about Eric Bouiller? No comment from him, he is not on the official picture. Is he on his way out?
Why would he be on is way out? He is just doing his job.
He posted a picture of Alonso talking at the event, via Instagram, so he’s definitely still there.
I’d imagine that the boss of McLaren and their engine partner alongside the drivers would take priority. Plus it gives a nice ‘put the past behind us’ shot with Ron standing next to Alonso!
Now here’s a guy with a tough job. When he’s done dealing with Alonso he has to get back to Ron…
My hat’s off to you Mr. Boullier!
Taking emotion out of it, a new team-engine partnership requires experience. That’s what McLaren now have. Button scored a lot more points last season than Magnussen, so this is the logical pairing. I assume ‘negotiations’ means money? It’ll be interesting to see if Alonso wants to be a team player next year, or whether we have a repeat of 2007 when Button is matching his race performances like Lewis did. Anyway, well done RD. Spot on.
Someone wrote that the difficulty was with Magnussen’s contract, not Button’s. Silly season two is almost over now.
Depends who someone is, doesn’t it?
It all sounds like corporate-speak to me.
From what I understand Fernando does not have to have any real contact with Ron Dennis whatsoever as their relationship is so broken that it cannot be fixed. Let the politics begin. What happens I wonder when TAG decide to buy out Ron?
Well, RD does not have to sell… Remember this is his team. TAG only own 25 percent. The Bahrainis own 50 percent. If RD gets his way he will buy half of each of these shareholdings and so need up with 62.5 percent and thus control.
But Ron is struggling to fond the financing for a buy out and the other shareholders are cash rich and may well tire of Ron and push for the floatation of McLaren themselves. The TAG shareholding I believe is linked into Rons shareholding and after Mansour’s lung transplant his brother now controls this side of the business. Aziz Ojjeh is not as F1 friendly as Mansour. I wonder for how long the Bahrain Sovereign Wealth fund wishes to stay involved….do the numbers stack up?
Can you see Dennis being pushed out if he doesn’t mange to come up with the buyout funds?
For the head of a company to lose such a public battle just as he’s trying to take control of the company suggests tremendous discord.
Telltales like this often presage the departure of a chief executive.
Perhaps Ross Brawn will be getting a call from Woking in the coming weeks.
We’ll see
from what you understand? Who is your source?
Glad JB gets another season, he’ll need to be on the ball to get another after 2015, even if he’s got a ‘2 year’ contract I feel sure it will be 1 year + an option. Mclaren will need 2 uber experienced drivers to get the Honda into shape quickly so its the right decision I feel. Hope the engine is on the money fairly early on as this could be a great tussle to watch, Alonso Vs Button. I dont think this refelcts badly on magnussen at all, if the Honda isn’t in the ball park then it makes far more sense to have JB in the car giving feedback and working with Honda again, Kevin can observe, learn and then jump into the car when its fully competetive thus fulfilling McLarens long term driver strategy. Personally I’d like to see JB do well and get another year in 2016 still feel he’s got some good results left in him. WEC will have to wait a little longer!
I really don’t understand all this “Jenson will help Honda” stuff that’s being bandied about. Because of very limited track testing and the deadly HOMOLOGATION, I don’t believe the drivers have a significant input into engines.
Yes they can provide feedback for tweaks (once they’re in the cars) but ask yourself how much use this was for champion drivers like Vettel, Alonso and Raikkonen?
No..with financial realities the way they are in F1, it makes sense to have the best constructors points grabbers you can get.
As someone who has followed Jenson’s F1 career since he started, it’s great news to see him confirmed as a McLaren driver for 2015. I must say that I was convinced in my own mind that Kevin Magnussen was going to get the drive over Jenson, but you called it, Joe, when you said that the longer the saga dragged on, the better it looked for JB. Looking forward to seeing McLaren-Honda make good progress and return to the front end in 2015.
All that Ronspeak is hardly a ringing endorsement of JB, that’s for sure. Clearly Dennis couldn’t get the money for Magnussen from the Danish sponsors.
Button’s always been underrated, although he didn’t help himself with by playing shenanigans with Williams all those years ago (and I’ll bet Frank hasn’t forgotten). I think this was the only sensible pairing for this year, two experienced heads for a new engine and a whole new car. Button’s going to end up doing what Coulthard did at Red Bull- fix all the rubbish and then hand the good car over to someone else.
What makes you think Button’s going to “fix” anything? They’ve just had two of their worst years for some time with Button as lead driver. And even the year before that, while Hamilton was challenging at the front, Button was flailing about down the back for a decent portion of the year complaining about having no grip.
I know what you mean about 2012, Hamilton totally dominated Button by a whole two points that season.
Well at long last the die is finally cast!
What remains to be seen is:
1. Can Honda produce a PU equal to or better than MB’s?
2. Can McLaren produce a car that can live up to Honda’s PU?
3. Can Fernando and Jenson wring the neck of the new car and deliver some results?
4. How much Ronspeak will come forth out of the new dynamic?
At the end of the day, Ron has lived up to the high bar of possibilities he has dangled in front of his fans these past months.
What we all love about F1, the possibilities and permutations are nearly infinite!
Honda are only doing the engine.
Maybe that’s why they had electrical issues at first test? Wasn’t the engine, but the interfacing of all of McLaren’s PU units and drives with the Honda lump.
Frankly i dont see all this Alonso throwing his toys out of the pram next year. In 2007 McLaren had the best car so Alonso would have assumed the WDC was his from day 1. 2015 will not be anything like that given the strength of the MB team. Surely it will be all about improving the Mcl/Honda team, taking anything that come his way, for 2016 and beyond?
Looking forward to seeing JB closer to FA than KR and FM were. 🙂
He did pretty well against Lewis.
Once day JB will be recognised for the talent he is!
Well, it’s hammer time.
Oooo! Ron Dennis says Fernando has the “four e’s – experience, expertise, enthusiasm and energy.”
This guy must be good.
Better that than the four D’s – Demands, Deceit, Drama, Disaster…
….or the four F’s…….
The real issue at hand is: Will Ron force Alonso to shave the beard?
It’s very nice that together with the media they managed to create this into a PR exercise but onto more pressing issues…who is their title sponsor for 2015??!
This might be perfect- JB gets at least one more year, though probably in an uncompetitive ride, and Mag hopefully takes the reins when JB is done. Besides a shizload of Euros, I doubt Alonso gets anything to add to his CV out of this move; I have a hard time seeing Honda-McLaren being top tier over the next 3 years, though I hope I’m wrong. Good maybe, but not championship caliber. Maybe his jackpot will finally fund Alonso’s cycling team…..I hope.
Happy that that decision has been made regarding Drivers for 2015.
In the grand scheme though this doesn’t matter as much as it did for some UK press outlets.
The bigger picture, perhaps, is that a major F1 team, with a top rate collection of drivers (Danish and otherwise), and with a major new engine supplier with the pedigree of Honda, failed to attract the sponsorship of Lego.
This is the biggest problem facing F1. It simply seems incapable of attracting general industry and business sponsorship. Now, F1 sponsorship has always evolved, most notably from tobacco to non-tobacco and will continue to do so, But in failing to secure Lego – a business that had a major blockbuster movie made about it’s product in the last year – F1 simply isn’t attractive to a wide enough base of sponsors and this will harm the sport on so many levels.
McLaren didn’t mention a title sponsor today and they may not do so until January or indeed until the first tests next year. But this doesn’t appear to be a situation where they are beating sponsors off with a brush, it does appear they aren’t able to secure one! This is F1’s problem, both FIA and FOM, and Mr. E needs to start making noises that the world is actually bigger than F1 rather than the other way around and he’s heard it all before.
Ferrari, McLaren, Williams – without these teams having quality sponsorship and therefore budgets to go racing competitively, the F1 circus really isn’t worth very much. Mercedes are great World Champions but there’s no guarantee the motor car business won’t decide LeMans isn’t a better use of their money in three or four years times. Like BMW, Toyota, and Honda, the OEMs can decide to stop funding the F1 operation at a moments notice.
The sport cannot rely solely on motor car manufacturer support. For a company with the current profile of Lego to say : No this isn’t for us – this must be a major worry for F1.
Williams were ahead of the curve in moving from tobacco sponsors, will they need to do the same with their alcohol-brand sponsor? If the sport isn’t attractive enough where will teams seek out sponsorship? As I’ve said before, it’s virtually inconceivable that Google don’t have an F1 team – and I think that speaks volumes for where the sport is today.
I agree and sadly the teams have all priced themselves out of the current sponsor market and few really understand how competitive the advertising space is today, with brands chasing generation Z, via Twitter, Instagram and celebrity endorsement, Generation Y via Facebook and Music and the rest of us on TV, static media, radio, pop up events and traditional marketing and advertising platforms. In addition to this Bernie has stolen sponsors from teams and now requests all VIP’s entering the Paddock have their details listed with him so he can cherry pick the people to impress, i.e. Rolex, Emirates, SIG, UBS years ago and alcohol brands. The teams need to push for more digital rights from Bernie and CVC, they need cheaper merchandise and fans want more access to drives and events away from races, i.e. testing, street promotions and digital special events. It is tough but the funds are available if you are not greedy and pitch at the right level, which few commercial directors do.
It is in every way conceivable that google doesn’t have an F1 team.
It is an American company, and F1 is an invisible sport here…
And? US companies don’t want to expand?
Expand how? What is F1 to American businesses? Most have no clue it is a truly international series. Let alone that it exists.
And that’s the problem F1 has in America – nobody here knows or cares.
And if they don’t know or care about it, then they will not see F1 sponsorship as a viable marketing option.
It’s just not on American businesses marketing radar.
Mr. Keogh’s post is otherwise 100% correct, if large European companies that are at least tangentially aware that F1 is a big sport want nothing to do with it, what are the chances that an American company will have any interest?
Google would probably want to have a driverless F1 car! Still, that would save time and effort with the silly season negotiations …
Why would google conceive it’s a good idea to have an F1 team? They’ve got global brand recognition already and would be far better off putting $200,000 a year into driverless cars than 50 evolutions of a front win that make the car go 0.5 seconds faster over a year.
As for the other sponsors, F1 still gives great bang for buck. Didn’t Red Bull and Merc get over a billion dollars of exposure for $200,000. Five fold return on investment is pretty good. Hell, there’s even a pub in Surrey that people have heard of after Caterham’s exploits this year.
So Ron truly puts the cat amongst the pigeons by stating this of Hamilton’s role in 2007 ;
“But [he was] also someone who had immaturity, and really, who struck the first blow?
“I would say Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated.”
After 7 years Ron finally confirms that Hamilton was immature and admits Hamilton started it.
Why now ? , at this point when new beginnings are what matters , surely Hamilton will come back with both barrels and give his contradicting version……
Ron , your timing sucks , whether what you say is true or not (who cares after all this time ?) you could have avoided this controversy and side stepped the issue.
Ronspeak ? , no , just a propensity to press the self destruction once too often.
Ferrari and McLaren are the top 2 teams in signing drivers. They now have 4 former WDCs with 8 titles between them. If only these 2 formerly great teams can design fast cars again without making excuses all the time it would help F1 as a sport
Lay off the thinners. They will flop around at the back for 20 years……
Ferrari, maybe. But I’ve thought for a while now that McLaren-Honda will become Merc’s main challengers over the next few seasons. Maybe. It straight away but they’ve got absolutely everything in place for the future in a way that Ferrari doesn’t.
I was amused to read that Ron pointed the finger at Hamliton as being the main cause of making 2007 an ‘interesting’ year that ultimately lead to Alonso leaving. That was at odds with a lot of the reporting of the situation at the time. Is that a reasonable summary of the actual happenings Joe, or is this something that Ron had to say in order to keep his new toy happy? It just seems strange that he’s not said anything since then until today, which with Alonso being stood beside him makes the timing and the message rather suspicious. I look forward to hearing Lewis’ reply to Rons message too. Hopefully he will be honest as he now has little reason not to be.
Joe,its not a gamble either way.Commercial decisions and funding apart they are prudently are hedging their bets.KM may represent the future but is young enough to sit out one season (as did FA after his first one with Minardi..).JB has a far longer track record and experience in developing a car and package which is what the new partnership needs in the short term..
Gosh, I hope this works out… I’d like to see Honda do well, and Alonso to win that elusive (or illusive?) third title.
Interesting that Andrew Benson has now posted what he claims to be the story of spygate. In short: the emails between Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa that confirmed McLarens involvement in the spy scandal and led to the mega fine came to light because Alonso had told his manager Briatore about them, who in turn had told Mosley. The famous threat by Alonso in Hungary to expose everything was at that point irrelevant because Mosley already knew and was planning to investigate.
…
Comments, Joe?
Sounds like a rewrite of history
Ron rather ungraciously also pushes the blame for the fall out with Alonso onto Lewis for ‘firing the first shot’. i thought he was a bigger man than that.
I noticed that too, and reacted the same way.
I think what Ron said was probably true as far as it goes. But Lewis was basically a kid at the time, and Fernando wasn’t all that old either. Both had spent most of their lives in the closed environment of motor racing, and neither of them had much experience of much outside of that. It was the team’s job to manage that stuff, and, yeah, that’s a big ask for Ron or anyone.
But it still seemed pretty ungracious to me to try and push Lewis under the bus, and a bit lame too.
To be fair, the reconstructions I read all suggested that the discontent started in Hamilton’s camp. But this is the first time that has been publicly confirmed by Ron Dennis.
Does not mean those were right!
I’ve not seen the stuff about Briatore anywhere, that point was new to me. It seemed like an article which had fewer holes than any I’ve read on that particular subject
Yes for this season its kind of like Arrivabene being Alonso’s personal manager!
The Andrew Benson article also mentioned that (a) Whitmarsh wanted to sack Alonso immediately before the Hungary GP but that Dennis demurred, perhaps because (b) it turned out that when signing Alonso, Dennis HAD promised him priority over Hamilton, which he later went back on… and Whitmarsh didn’t know this at the time.
I’d been wondering whether this was the real story behind Spygate that you’d been hinting at for so long, Joe, but from your “sounds like a rewrite of history” comment above re. the article’s other revelation about Briatore’s involvement, perhaps not…
I don’t think the Briatore thing is that significant. You must remember that at the time, the flow of information between the teams was much greater. Mosley simply chose to turn the Coughlan thing into a crusade. Don’t forget that Ferrari had previously taken Toyota to court in Germany and won over similar questions and later Renault was allowed to get away with worse. The whole thing blew up in Hungary, not before. And McLaren policy has always been that the best man wins, except on the occasion mentioned when DC was told to give his place to MH is Australia because there had been a mistake with a pitstop.
I should add that of course Lewis is a major threat for next season so the destabilisation may be starting early. A poke here and there by Ron may be part of the plan.
It used not to be done, to criticise another team’s driver, but it has now become a regular thing.
Yes Ron has been saying things I would not expect of him, now having a go at Lewis and a jibe at Kevin the day before.
Has he been seen with a former spice girl too?
The big question is how long will Ron allow Alonso to keep that beard?
Is Jensen Button the Forrest Gump of F1? Or possibly the next James Bond? Every time fate rolls his dice, it comes up for him. JB is a fine, second tier driver, much good to say about him, but no-one in F1 history has had so many second chances. He has nothing to lose next year and is unlikely to drop the ball, so I won´t argue with the logic.
Reading the McLaren PR gives me the creeps. How robotic and bland it is! Alonso´s career never recovered from his first brush with this culture, and I dont have great expectations this time around. At his very core, FA is individualistic, and McLaren cannot let that be.
The Magnussen family may also have had a bit of a groundhog day as well.
I suspect the hand of Alonso may be involved in the choice of Button. Certainly after the 2007 season I doubt that Alonso would want a team structure where he was going to be challenged by another “young gun” seeking to make his way forward, far better to have a Button on the downside, than a Magnussen on the upside. From where I sit Alonso has nothing to worry about from Button. After sixteen season’s in F1 Button is not about to learn new tricks to get himself to the front of the field. If he was going to contribute to team improvement, it would have happened by now!
I think some of the people dont realise that drivers have so little input to what gets to the track that its not worth thinking about. About the only thing a driver can expect is that the engineering departments take note of how the driver fits the cockpit. The amount of testing available means that if a car is wrong when it hits the track, its pretty much wrong for the whole season. Just look back over the past season for confirmation of this, what cars moved their position verses the other teams. McLaren going backwards after Melbourne and Red Bull/Renault sorting the engine out could be seen as change, but really, very little really happens.But the cars were still “wrong” and if you believe Horner, he’s not looking for a big step against Mercedes next year. The size of teams means that its just such a monumental task to get a design team to change direction and re-design a car that the financial implecation alone limit the amount tha can be achieved. And then there is the problem of getting the technical department to change its view on what is needed to be done, take Ferrari as a classic example of this, the revolving door is still going around!
I look forward to Melbourne to see who has really improved their game.
Please, Alonso worried about a rookie that was convincingly beaten by Button?
Suggest you get your coat 😉
I think you are missing the point, the last time Alonso was at McLaren he was, by his standards, involved in a crap year, not the least of which was because he was up against a very quick rookie. He clearly is not wanting a repeat with a very good up-and-coming rookie. He’s far happier with a driver on the downside that he can control with the promise of a second year. Because that is what Button will want to retain, the roar of the crowd, the smell of the greasepaint. Hence why he took a big pay cut.
I can only think you dont know how drivers at this level think.
Joe – it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on why Ron might not be able to raise the finance. After all, there is a huge amount of very cheap financing available in the current market. Rates are at a historical low and there is also a lot of equity sloshing around in PE funds. Yet no deal has been struck…
Maybe he thinks the rates should be higher.
???
Joe, you’ve written the best, most analytical politically and business-wise, least judgemental articles on this very debatable situation over many weeks, the fine detail of which will probably never be known. So, a historical question for you: 2007 was a disaster for McLaren, the fact that one of their drivers should have been World Champion the least of it – do you think Ron Dennis could have handled it better and are his stated regrets about personal (partial) culpability genuine?.
I think that it is right to let the drivers fight one another. If one of them gets out of hand then it is right to slap him down.
I am not sure McLaren has enough to offer the PE guys (Private Equity). Hedge Funds are not interested and he will not be looking to offer up the business as security when his two fellow shareholders are awash with money. Ron needs liquidity and probably struggles with financial types…..never had sponsors from this area of industry as a team, and they just don’t see F1 today as a good investment especially in regard to a flotation or partial market float. McLaren make some road cars but the brand is not there yet and they are not collectable today. the team isn’t winning and the spin off businesses do not yet generate enough cash in comparison with what Ron wants…upwards of £150 million now, and some have mentioned £600 million for the whole organisation……
Road cars are an entirely separate ownership structure. There is some overlap of owners but they are different companies.
Had Santander for a few years … still on drivers overalls.
As an outsider, I’m impressed by Honda’s influence. They seem to have dictated these decisions. Alonzo chosen because he’s one of the best drivers — probably the best available. Jenson because he is talented, and has a long relationship with the company. The machinations behind the scenes must have been fascinating. Should be an interesting 2015.
I am not sure this is correct but I understand how you reach this conclusion.
Interesting. My prediction look for Honda to pull out some wins next year.
Looking forward to reading Simon Taylor’s ‘lunch with Ron’ in the May 2024 issue of Motor Sport to find out what really has happened……..
News tonight the the Bahrain Soverign Wealth Fund have agreed to sell shares to Ron D so long as he raises the funds within a certain period, enabling him and possibly TAG to own the team once more as majority shareholders.