McLaren confirm Jenson Button as Alonso’s Monaco replacement // F1 champion set for one-off return
Published by Christine Blachford
It didn’t take long for McLaren to find a ready and willing substitute for Fernando Alonso, after revealing this week that the Spaniard would be missing the Monaco Grand Prix in favour of racing a McLaren car in the Indy 500. The team are bringing back Jenson Button, who retired at the end of the 2016 season as a full time F1 racer, to become the reserve driver this year and focus on other interests.
Button has been training hard to take part in Iron Man competitions, but will return to racing on four wheels in May. The British driver said: “I’m thrilled to be making a one-off return to F1 racing, and I couldn’t think of a better place to make that return than my adopted home of Monaco… It’ll be nice to say hi to all my old F1 mates too, and hopefully to give the fans something to cheer about.”
Racing Director, Éric Boullier, adds: “Jenson is a superb driver and he won’t have lost any of his competitive edge over the past few months. After all, he’s missed only a handful of races since Abu Dhabi last year, and he’s as fit as a fiddle. Also, he’s always been good at Monaco.”
