On the one hand, everyone in the F1 paddock now knows what the top of the grid will look like in 2015.<\/p>\n
On the other, everything is still unclear.<\/p>\n
“Yes, I know what he’s doing,” Sergio Perez, referring to the key to the driver market, Fernando Alonso, told Spanish broadcaster TV3.<\/p>\n
In the last few days, it has become clearer and clearer that speculation Alonso is headed to McLaren-Honda for 2015 is definitely true.<\/p>\n
Insiders now strongly believe that his teammate will be Kevin Magnussen, even though the Danish rookie is saying little.<\/p>\n
McLaren is being criticised by seasoned pundits for leaving its decision so late, endangering not only Magnussen’s new career, but especially the 2009 world champion Jenson Button.<\/p>\n
Asked if he feels let down, Magnussen said on Thursday: “No, because I understand why I’ve not been told yet.\u00a0 They have a reason for it.”<\/p>\n
The fact Magnussen has not featured at all in the 2015 ‘silly season’ would seem to be the strongest sign that it is the veteran Button who is moving on.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the 34-year-old’s body language was palpable in the Interlagos paddock.<\/p>\n
“Er.\u00a0 I don’t know,” Button said after a long pause, when asked by reporters if he would even accept an offer to stay with the Woking team now.<\/p>\n
Asked if he feels disrespected by McLaren, he added: “That’s something I’m not going to answer.\u00a0 Unfair question.<\/p>\n
“When you’re put in a position where you don’t know if your contract is going to be renewed it opens your eyes to different possibilities — whether it’s racing, doing another sport or something different altogether,” said Button.<\/p>\n
It seems clear the Button-McLaren marriage is ending.\u00a0 He said he spoke in Austin with team supremo Ron Dennis for “less than a few minutes”.<\/p>\n
Button’s former teammate Lewis Hamilton said he will be shocked if Button is forced out of F1.<\/p>\n
“J.B.’s leaving?\u00a0 Really?” he exclaimed.<\/p>\n
“Jenson’s better than most of the drivers, so it (the news) doesn’t correlate.\u00a0 It’s not that the team needs a better driver, they just need a better car,” said Hamilton.<\/p>\n
It is now obvious that the conspicuous holdup is due to the contractual situation between Alonso and Ferrari, with the party who blinks first set to lose up to $50 million.<\/p>\n
He rejected any talk that McLaren has imposed a deadline.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think there is any deadline to decide,” said Alonso on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“This week McLaren is saying something, last week (Gerard) Lopez of Lotus said we were talking, which is true but it’s for a project outside formula one.”<\/p>\n
So, as has been the trend for the past several races, Alonso gave another of his now-familiar rumour-quashing appearances for the press in Brazil.<\/p>\n
“Last week they said I was going to buy Marussia for one dollar,” he laughed, “which is absolutely untrue.”<\/p>\n
He insisted he has not even ruled out staying at Ferrari, but opened the door to being ejected by the fabled Italian team.<\/p>\n
“If they feel they need to be more motivated or to work in the future with less pressure,” he said, “then I’ll understand.”<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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