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Despite a particularly difficult 2015 Jenson Button had some extremely good years with Honda. 2004 was a breakthrough year for the marque in Formula One and they scored more points than any other team during latter half of 2006.
Yet Button looked very much like a man casting one eye to greener pastures and the other on his Formula One scrapbook.
“We’ve definitely had some ups and downs in the past. 2004 was a great year,” Button said on Thursday.
“I got my first podium that year. We were second in the Constructors’ so pretty special year. I won my first Grand Prix with Honda, and still the only Grand Prix for Honda in this era. So, a special day. The president of Honda was there. He came to two races that year and he was stood on the podium with me, so a great experience and a great memory.”
Button is too classy an act to throw McLaren Honda into the deep-end with a retirement announcement on the eve of their home Grand Prix, yet in listening to his comments it was very much a case of the fine print pulling the rug out from the Button and McLaren-Honda relationship.
Despite forcing Button into a holding pattern on learning the fate of his 2015 drive at the end of last year, McLaren, having fallen from grace by virtue of a recalcitrant Honda power unit, have fallen back into the role of a desperate partner attempting to keep the other interested.
But even McLaren director Jonathan Neale admitted that delving into such advances with an unwilling participant would be an exercise in futility.
“Jenson is a big part of the family at Honda and McLaren and we want him to stay,” Neale said.
“But if your driver doesn’t really want to be in the seat then we have to respect that. I hope we have done enough between us to continue those discussions with him and have the confidence to have him with us.”
Notwithstanding point blank questions whether he was contemplating retirement or not, Button spoke like a man who’d already crossed the finish line with Honda with a large box left unticked. Instead, Jenson forecast a time when the Japanese manufacturer would once again dominate the pinnacle of motor racing, albeit in his absence.
“We never achieved what we set out to do, which was fight for the World Championship,” Button said.
“We had some good times, we have a lot of fun – but we never quite achieved that. So, I think this time is an important time for Honda. Hopefully one day we’ll see the president of Honda stood on the podium again.”
There’s nothing more painful hearing a former companion wish you well as they sever ties. While Buttons remains a Woking driver, McLaren-Honda have definitely found themselves in the ‘friend zone’.
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