Button returning to F1?

Running in the INdy 500 with a Honda engine... what could go wrong. As for Button, who would be desperate to come back for Monaco?

Honestly it's a terrible idea by the team, as in absurdly awful. Almost any other track you might want a reserve driver to come in but Monaco.... whoever they get, Button included, will not have driven in this car before. Single worst track of the year to get someone not familiar with these cars to sub in for. Also much wider cars will make Monaco even harder... and even worse for overtaking(so we'll go down from 2 overtakes to 1). As a driver I see no upside, Button or anyone else, you only really stand to make a fool of yourself hitting the wall imo.

Considering what an event Monaco is for sponsors and that Mclaren are desperate to get a decent sponsor on board and the difficulty of driving here in a completely new car all somewhat points to HUGE ultimatums by Alonso to be allowed out for this race. There is literally no upside to this for Mclaren which makes me think Alonso must have said along the lines of let me race the indy 500 or I quit today.

Button would be stupid to come back for this race, wide cars he's never driven at a narrow track that isn't even close to a fun race anyway? If it was Bahrain/USA or any much more forgiving track to errors then why not, but coming back for Monaco has disaster written all over it.
 
How's it a terrible idea for the team when the cars probably going to finish 15th anyway. It's a great idea by the team allowing Alonso the chance to achieve the triple crown. Good on them.
 
smr said:
How's it a terrible idea for the team when the cars probably going to finish 15th anyway. It's a great idea by the team allowing Alonso the chance to achieve the triple crown. Good on them.
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Did you just not bother to read? Monaco is the biggest race of the year for the teams, it's only still held there because it's fancy, has a thousand luxury yachts and has the richest people in the world gather. This is where huge parties happen where teams invite sponsors to hang out with the rich and famous. This is pretty much the single most important race to have your drivers talking to sponsors and whoever they bring with them. Not having your big name driver there is incredibly bad. Currently Mclaren's biggest sponsor is Honda, who suck and they are pretty much tied to Honda because if they decided to break the contract and leave they'd have a significant lack of sponsorship input.

As for finishing 15th, is that based on where they've qualified so far? It's the races with no overtaking where Mclaren stand to gain their most points. They struggle with maintaining enough ers power in a race but that is far less of an issue for qualifying(because you can precharge and only need to use it for one lap). They have for three years, outside of flukes with safety cars or rain(or both), qualified better than they finish. Monaco is probably their absolute best chance for their highest finish of the year as it stands.

So yeah, letting your senior driver not turn up for the race with the most potential points you'll get all year and most important for sponsorship is a terrible terrible idea.
 
Maybe McLaren have eyes on an American engine?
I see Tony Jardine is saying he thinks Alonso may be back at Ferrari by Silverstone. Leaving Jenson at McLaren? Or Kimi?
Andi.
 
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I wouldn't be so sure Button is coming back. I don't think he's showing much interest in F1 since the winter; meanwhile Rosberg is posting stuff about F1 and visited winter testing.

If he was nailed on as coming back I would have expected it to be announced at the same time. It's not like they have to negotiate with another team to secure his services.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Button would be stupid to come back for this race, wide cars he's never driven at a narrow track that isn't even close to a fun race anyway?
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Have you never heard of £million F1 Simulators before? Which, ahem, McLaren have?

I still don't buy it being a bad idea, and I think you're overexaggerating the sponsor thing - so it's Monaco, big deal - not like the team are hot property for sponsors this season, they've got nothing to lose by letting him race. The car is a write off all season. May as well let JB have some fun, I'm sure the drivers find it more a fun track to drive on than you do spectating it on your armchair anyway.
 
Don't forget we have an in season test after Bahrain this weekend, reckon that should give us an idea. Also doesn't Button live in Monaco? Cross the road and he gets to do another race. And he does love Monaco....and is the reserve driver....and does bring experience (ok, wider cars with more grip, but Button has been around since the V8...maybe V10 era....)
 
Heres how this all went down (evidently only started a few weeks ago)



Mark Miles and Zak Brown were friends before one became President & CEO of Hulman & Company and the other took over McLaren. But together they figured out a way to help boost the Indianapolis 500's profile and check off a box on a two-time Formula 1 champion's bucket list.

"I got a call from Zak a couple of weeks ago and he wondered if we could put a Honda deal together so Fernando could run in this year's Indy 500," Miles told RACER.com. "I said we would move heaven and earth to make that happen.

"So I contacted some Honda teams and he contacted one, but we couldn't find an engine. And then we got lucky."

Miles reached out to Stefan Wilson, who had been working on his own program for Indy, explained his dilemma, and suggested maybe there was a way the younger brother of the late Justin Wilson could help: give up his seat for Alonso next month, and let IMS add to the value of his program for 2018.

"As much as he wanted to run the Speedway this year, he was looking out for the greater good of IndyCar," said Miles. "Quite a gesture."

Brown then approached the McLaren board and Honda of Japan to make his pitch, and thus began non-stop texting between Miles, Brown and Michael Andretti.

For Alonso, Indy may be a daunting task since he's never been on an oval, but at least he'll have a chance to be competitive for the first time in 2017. His Honda F1 engine has under-performed and stuck him in the back of the pack - but his Honda IndyCar engine has won the first two Verizon series races.

"It's an amazing story," said Miles. "Fernando wants to go for the Triple Crown [Le Mans, Indy 500, Monaco], and McLaren is returning after a 38-year absence and all that history.

"Alonso has never been on a superspeedway, but he'll get a private test day at IMS and all that practice in May - and Alexander (Rossi) showed a rookie could win last May. The heroes of this story are Alonso, Zak, Michael and Stefan [ED: Along with Wilson's sponsors Gap Guard, Dale Pelfrey and Indiana Donor Network, who accepted the new arrangement]. And I think it's going to be a pretty cool story, and another great month of May."
 
smr said:
Have you never heard of £million F1 Simulators before? Which, ahem, McLaren have?

I still don't buy it being a bad idea, and I think you're overexaggerating the sponsor thing - so it's Monaco, big deal - not like the team are hot property for sponsors this season, they've got nothing to lose by letting him race. The car is a write off all season. May as well let JB have some fun, I'm sure the drivers find it more a fun track to drive on than you do spectating it on your armchair anyway.
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Simulators are simulators and real life is real life. Small differences at a track with often literally no margin for error at all become a big deal.

Also on sponsors not being a hot property is the WHOLE POINT. A team that is hot property has sponsors sucking up to them, begging to be involved, Mercedes are turning away sponsors not running around begging for sponsors to give them cash. The teams that can gain the most from wining and dining sponsors are the teams that at the opposite end of the spectrum , they are desperate for sponsors and most don't really want to be involved. Monaco is even more important for the situation Mclaren is in, not less important.
 
Apparently Mario Andretti did it in in 1977 (some poetry there, given he's going to race one of his son's cars). In fact as well as finishing 3rd in the F1 championship in 1977 he also finished 7th in the USAC championship (the indirect predecessor to Indy Car) racing 7 events.

Still Andretti wasn't the last full-time F1 driver to do a one-off Indy 500 - Teo Fabi did it in 1984, also missing the Monaco GP (was substituted by his brother Corrado Fabi).

I should credit Sean Kelly for the above. Well worth a follow if you're on Twitter.
 
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