Why this must be Jenson Button's last season

Much hubbub was made of Jenson Button’s non-retirement at the Italian Grand Prix.

This was founded in equal parts on McLaren’s ambitious description of the contract and on its implications for the 2009 world champion’s career.

The deal, which sees promising development driver Stoffel Vandoorne push Button into a reserve driver role next year, was described as ‘innovative’ by the team.

They must have forgotten Sauber’s infamous four-driver squad, which earned the team a hearing in Victoria’s Supreme Court just last year.

But, to be fair, McLaren’s 2017 Fernando Alonso/Vandoorne/Button combination isn’t the common tripartite found elsewhere on the grid and nor is it a litigious as Sauber’s driver contract shenanigans.

Button’s two-year deal runs alongside Vandoorne’s sole and Alonso’s final year in 2017. If Vandoorne proves subpar or Alonso calls it quits having a driver of Button’s calibre is a handy insurance policy.

“I’m massively excited about my new role,” Button said of the deal. “To be clear, I’m very definitely not retiring. I’m contracted for both 2017 and 2018, I intend to work hard on car development, and I’m sure I’ll get behind the wheel of the new car at some point.”

Perhaps he will get some seat time in the 2017 machine – maybe on some test days, certainly in the simulator – but should we really expect more than that from Button, who will be 38 in 2018?

The conditions for his return, though not impossible, are either improbable or unfavourable.

The Vandoorne scenario would require the Belgian to struggle in his rookie Formula One season to such a degree that replacing him becomes management’s only option.

World sport is littered with examples of junior talent failing to translate at the elite level. However, Vandoorne’s prodigious background – domination in his GP2 title year, points on debut substituting for Alonso in Bahrain this season – colours it unlikely that his name will join that disappointing pile.

On the other hand a situation in which Alonso leaves carries its own hurdle. Fernando Alonso, though increasingly nonchalant about his Formula One future in his second year of struggle with McLaren-Honda, is likely to agree to a new contract for 2018 if the car is competitive next season.

Given the 2017 regulations require a redesign of the current chassis and allow the entire power unit to be completely overhauled, the car’s performance next season will prove a reasonable forecast for medium-term competitiveness.

A combative car stands the team in good stead, but a poor package locks the team into another crawl up the pecking order for a number of years – and Alonso’s had enough of those sorts of seasons.

Would Button want to come back in such a situation – not only a situation in which the car is deemed substandard by a driver of Alonso’s standing but one with which success is as unlikely as it has ever been in the hybrid era?

Moreover a return would be guaranteed for only one year and would therefore plunge Button into another season of will-he-won’t-he contract speculation, diminishing its value.

But the most compelling reason against a Jenson Button 2018 swan song is that F1 could use a man of his stature – but not in the cockpit.

With Formula One’s commercial rights changing hands from a neglectful pair to a set expected to be far more nurturing, the sport needs ambassadors, and there is no better F1 role model than Jenson.

Not only is he a world champion, he won his crown in scarcely believable, fairy tale-like circumstances with Brawn in 2009. It’s one of the most compelling stories in the sport’s history and it ought to feature in any F1 pitch to the world.

Button’s universal popularity, supported by his natural charisma, media training, and allusions to the stereotypical race driver lifestyle, only strengthen his candidacy as the face of the sport.

What could such a role entail? It could span anywhere from official F1 representative to being a key presenter in a potential MotoGP-style world feed broadcast to digital subscribers – his rumoured links to BBC’s new Top Gear aren’t for nothing, after all.

McLaren’s ‘innovative’ two-year contract extension with Button isn’t an ideal solution because Jenson can avoid saying he’s retiring, it’s perfect because it allows the Briton to keep himself plugged into the F1 world until the time is right for him take his next logical career step.

For the good of the sport this season must be Jenson’s last.