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| Jenson Button needs to improve, says McLaren’s Ron Dennis | Jenson Button needs to improve, says McLaren’s Ron Dennis |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Jenson Button has been told to try harder by McLaren’s executive chairman, Ron Dennis. The 2009 world champion heads for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone knowing he is out of contract at the end of the season. | |
| Dennis appreciates that the cars driven by Button and his team-mate, Kevin Magnussen, are far from race winners. McLaren, however, believe Button should be leaving the rookie Magnussen in his wake. Only 14 points separate the duo in the standings. | |
| “I’m happy with the drivers in the sense I think they are giving their best,” said Dennis, speaking to Sky Sports. “I’m sure Kevin is giving a big wake-up call to Jenson. In some ways you say: ‘Great, we’ve made a great choice with Kevin.’ | “I’m happy with the drivers in the sense I think they are giving their best,” said Dennis, speaking to Sky Sports. “I’m sure Kevin is giving a big wake-up call to Jenson. In some ways you say: ‘Great, we’ve made a great choice with Kevin.’ |
| “But in other ways you say: ‘Come on Jenson, you are a world champion and absolutely one thing you can do on a consistent basis – and you should be doing it – is beating your team-mate.’ | “But in other ways you say: ‘Come on Jenson, you are a world champion and absolutely one thing you can do on a consistent basis – and you should be doing it – is beating your team-mate.’ |
| “Do I want him to try harder? Of course I do. He’s a highly paid grand prix driver. Yes, we are not giving him the best car; yes, it would be challenging for him to win in this car to say the least, but he could do his bit and Kevin has to make it as difficult for him as possible.” | |
| Dennis has already made clear there will be no decision on the drivers for 2015 until later in the year. That is presumably to assess the market and to see who, if anybody, becomes available. “We want to win races and we would always hope the best available drivers would wish to drive our cars,” he said. “The key word is ‘available’ because people have contracts and we respect those contracts. | |
| “If Lewis [Hamilton] was in a position to drive for us next year, as with many of the other top drivers if they were in that position, we would love to have them on board. No one should ever feel threatened, either as a driver or as an engineer. All we want to do is win and we have to take considered positions and considered decisions on that process.” | “If Lewis [Hamilton] was in a position to drive for us next year, as with many of the other top drivers if they were in that position, we would love to have them on board. No one should ever feel threatened, either as a driver or as an engineer. All we want to do is win and we have to take considered positions and considered decisions on that process.” |