And Alonso and Button say that nothing is agreed.

 

There are two important factors at work.

Drives - all other teams have announced their drivers for next year, so there is nowhere else to go (in F1 at least).
Money - especially for Alonso.

Button had a 1 year contract with an option for the second year (2016), so there will be no financial penalties on him (other than not being paid for next year) so it's relatively easy for him to decide whether or not he wants to race for one more year, which will almost certainly be his last in any case.

Alonso, on the other hand, has 2 more years on his contract, and if he wishes to leave, it'll cost him a lot of money. He's not getting any younger and if Ron decides to put him on gardening leave for two years, then his career is over (one could argue that it may as well be, given how poor Honda's engine is). In addition, if he does break his contract, where would he go? Certainly not to Mercedes, Ferrari, or Red Bull.

It would be faintly amusing if Alonso left, Honda produced some sort of a miracle and Button went on to win the title next year!

 

I can't imagine that either McLaren driver has a contract which doesn't include bi-lateral performance-related break clauses. Given the lamentable performance so far this year it's hard to believe that neither of them could walk away if they so wished. And Alonso is managed by Flavio Briatore, who has been around the block a few times.

Which makes Alonso's comments yesterday rather baffling. He's probably the most political animal of the current crop of drivers. When he's being interviewed he plays the team game, or at least pretends to, but over the radio during races his frustration is all too clear, especially yesterday at Honda's home circuit with their senior management present.

Another potential problem for McLaren is in danger of becoming very real. They remain without a title sponsor, and their performances this year aren't exactly going to have potential backers hammering on the door. Finishing so far down the Constructors' Championship will significantly reduce their payment from FOM as well.

Nobody wants to see a leading team reduced to scrabbling around hoping to pick up a few points. Honda has some work to do, and they don't have long to do it.

 

I have a gut feeling (a hope?) that Honda will come back much stronger next season as long as sufficient track and development time is utilized. It would be really awesome to see them make a full fledged comeback out of nowhere. I am admittedly a big Alonso fan.

With minimal preparation and track time--along with the refusal to solicit information and help from other teams and developers--they had the misfortune of being locked into their current flawed design for the entire race season. They've been playing catch up the entire time, doing their best to modify as much as they can while still staying within regulations.

This time around, it would be nice to see them take advantage of the off season and produce a power plant that is on par with the rest of the leaders of the pack. What a story that would be.

 

It seemed to me from what Ron was saying McLaren had an option on whether to retain Button for 2016 at an agreed price, but Button was committed to two years. So we might have the situation where Button wants to retire but can't because he's contracted to McLaren.

Of course a contract doesn't mean you have to do something, just that you have to pay compensation if you don't. Button might have to buy his way out of the contract if he really wants to retire. Expect to hear that they've "come to an agreement" without the details being made public.

I think we'll see him for another year. Which is good. Whether Honda will deliver is another question.

 

ditching the hybrid engines and going back to the V8's would be even better.

 

Button now reported to be wanted by Renault for next year.

http://planetf1.com/news/and-now-but...-with-renault/

Can't see Mclaren allowing that to happen unless Renault buy him out of his contract. Can't see button wanting it either.

I just can't see how Honda are going to pull it out of the bag any time soon with the development limitations they have. If Button's still got the urge to be in F1 he might just make the jump. Might be a move Alonso would be interested in too.

 

Well Alonso and Renault have history.

 

So has button

 

I must have missed him driving for the Renault F1 factory team.