Why McLaren agonised over Button

The long wait is finally over. As the dead of winter approached, the eyes of Formula 1 fans around the world were glued on McLaren, the only team still to announce its driver line-up for 2015, as bigwigs in Woking wrestled with the dilemma of who should partner prodigal son Fernando Alonso - Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen?

After repeated delays, that debate was finally resolved this week as McLaren opted to offer Button a two-year deal to remain in Woking as a race driver, while relegating Magnussen to "reserve, test and third driver" status.

The McLarens were often close on-track, but not on the scoresheet © LAT

Button put pen to paper late on Wednesday, and hours later the Brit was sat alongside new team-mate Alonso, Magnussen, Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai, and McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, as McLaren-Honda's 2015 driver line-up was unveiled to the world's media at last.

For Button it has been a long and uncomfortable wait, but one he said had been "well worth it" in the end.

On paper, re-signing Button seemed like the obvious choice - a no-brainer. Not only did he (marginally) get the better of Magnussen in qualifying (Button finished the year 10-9 up in what many regard as one of his weaker suits), he utterly trounced the Dane when it came to the drivers' championship.

Button scored more than double his team-mate's number of points in 2014, and if McLaren had two Kevin Magnussens racing it would have finished behind Force India in the constructors' championship.

Beyond the simple question of performance and mathematics, Button also has greater experience - vital for helping McLaren-Honda cope with the driveability growing pains from its new V6 engine - plus world champion status, which is attractive to potential sponsors as McLaren's search for a new title backer continues.

But, if the decision were that simple it wouldn't have taken this long to come to a resolution. According to the team's racing director Eric Boullier, debate raged back and forth within McLaren because the correct longer-term option for McLaren-Honda was not so obvious as the straightforward decision to retain Button for at least another year based on 2014 results.

"There was a lengthy debate. It's true that we discussed all the minuses and the pluses for both drivers," says Boullier

"Things changed over these [last] few weeks - some minuses became pluses and vice versa. Rationally, the decision was complicated.

Dennis and Boullier challenged each other's views © XPB

"If you consider next year, it could be an easy choice. Then if you consider what we want to do in 2016 and further, it became less obvious.

"Some pluses in your mind can be minus for me, and some plus for Ron can be minus for somebody else.

"We have debated this and, to be honest, we had a very fair discussion. I sat down with Ron in a room together, closed the door and said: 'OK, I'm your lawyers, you're mine; I defend your position and you try to attack mine'.

"You can push for an argument and kill it. In the end, we left the room three times with it being 50-50.

"It takes time and many, many considerations. Now the decision is done, so let's move forward."

Button seemed almost relieved to have finally been able to end the whole sorry saga by committing pen to paper. There's certainly still some confusion in the Button camp as to why it all took so long to resolve.

Dennis spoke of "concerns" he held regarding Button, but it seems the Brit has shown enough willingness to jump through the hoops placed in front of him - whatever they may be.

When challenged by AUTOSPORT to explain what had convinced McLaren to plump for Button, Dennis was evasive.

"The reality is that in any negotiation you arrive at the point where you are addressing concerns," Dennis says. "When we were discussing internally, we came up with a series of things that gave people cause for concern.

There were 'concerns' over Button © LAT

"When I discussed these with Jenson, the level of transparency would be hard to believe. But that is only possible when you are dealing with someone with the maturity and understanding that you have with experienced racing drivers.

"I spent the weekend thinking about solutions as opposed to thinking about problems. I gave Jenson some ideas on solutions and he just said 'no problem' and that was it.

"We had addressed some of the concerns - gone. It was very easy. And then everybody aligned and then we had consensus.

"The process is we settled all of the things between us that concerned me. What we have to do now is deliver against the promises we have made to each other."

These "promises" would appear to relate to Button's willingness to raise his game in order to meet the colossal, Alonso-shaped force of nature that will now blow in to the other side of the McLaren garage. There were times during 2014, where some - Dennis certainly - felt Button wasn't giving his all behind the wheel.

"Jenson now has no reason not to get the job done," Dennis adds. "There was a turning point for me, which was strangely the conversation that took place between Jenson and I after the [last] race.

Alonso is a tough benchmark for any team-mate

"It was in contrast to the previous month. It re-energised in me the belief that Jenson did want to be in a Formula 1 car for all the right reasons. And I really believe that he can absolutely kick Fernando's butt.

"If he can do that - great; if he's going to get close to that - great. We want two drivers that are going to win races and the first thing in a team is 'beat your team-mate', but how you beat your team-mate is critical to the harmony of the team.

"These guys are seasoned veterans. They understand the media, they understand the chemistry inside the team, and they've both had enough experience of McLaren to know that we have one common objective - we have to win."

Now he's been 'chosen', the pressure is well and truly on Button to deliver alongside a driver who most feel is the very best in the world right now.

So now what of the gooseberry in the bush - the jilted junior Magnussen?

The Dane ultimately hasn't done enough in his rookie season to warrant a race seat next year - principally he still struggles to manage his tyres properly through a race without guidance from the team - but the Dane has still done a good job, and he's only 22 years-old. Alonso and Button are both more than 10 years his senior...

Both Dennis and Boullier reckon Magnussen still has the potential to go on and become a top driver in Formula 1 - that's why he's been retained as test and reserve driver. But, at the moment, it is unrealised potential in their eyes.

Magnussen was present at the announcement of his demotion

Magnussen was clearly putting a brave face on things in Woking on Thursday - talking of the positives of his youth and the fact he is still involved in some capacity.

Dennis was keen to stress the parallels Magnussen's new path would take with the likes of Alonso, and double world champion Mika Hakkinen.

"I had the very painful challenge of trying to explain why the decision was taken in favour of Jenson," says Dennis. "I pointed out to Kevin that I truly believe he is going to have something in common both with Fernando and with Mika Hakkinen.

"One year's testing does not take away the opportunity to race in the future - Fernando spent one year testing between Minardi and Renault; Mika did two years at Lotus, came here, did one year's testing then raced for us.

"And both of course then subsequently went on to win world championships..."

Ultimately, this scenario was the only way for McLaren to ensure it kept hold of both Button AND Magnussen in the short term, for Magnussen has been aligned with the team since the early days of his career and realistically had no other options. If McLaren hadn't kept Button racing, he would have walked away from Formula 1 - taking his impressive scoring and vast experience with him.

Alonso had his own season on the sidelines in 2002 © LAT

"We believe it is the fairest [decision]," adds Boullier. "Maybe Kevin doesn't have the same opinion, but it is the fairest decision we could do for McLaren-Honda.

"We can understand he is disappointed to not be racing next year, but the best we can offer him is to be part of the family next year.

"The McLaren-Honda project is huge and there is enough room for him to keep learning - especially from these two guys [Button and Alonso].

"He's going to keep in contact with racing cars next year, and this experience will help boost his profile.

"He had a very good year as a rookie driver and there is no reason why he should not be back racing in F1 sometime [in the future]."

Of course all this still doesn't really explain why the decision took so long, and why it had to be deferred repeatedly. But then difficult choices often seem much simpler in hindsight. McLaren has made the right choice for the moment - something it hasn't always done successfully on race weekends when it comes to strategy.

You could certainly accuse it of grossly over-thinking things, but it got there in the end.

Now, the eyes of F1 fans can finally turn away from driver line-ups in Woking and focus on the prospect of seeing two world champions go head-to-head in the same equipment. That's something every F1 fan can look forward to.