Button is racing with his third team-mate in three years, after Mexican Sergio
Perez lasted just one season with the Woking-based outfit. The decision to
axe Perez in favour of rookie Magnussen was taken by the returning Ron
Dennis, it emerged this week, and huge expectation has been placed on the
Dane.
While Button praised his 21-year-old team-mate’s early working in winter
testing, he warned that “he has to be quick” to preserve his future at
McLaren.
“Kevin is very quick, we have seen that in testing and in his career”, Button
said.
“I think he has realised there is a lot more to Formula One than what he
probably expected in terms of the technology and the new regulations but he
is getting to grips with it really well.
“We talk a lot, probably more than I have with most team-mates, about set up.
He’s got good feedback.
“He’s going to be quick but you’d expect that. He’s driving for McLaren. He
has to be quick.”
McLaren suffered their worst season since 1980 in 2013, failing to score a
single podium and the team’s best result coming with a fourth place finish
for Button at the final race in Brazil.
Early indications from pre-season are that the car is reliable, but lacks the
outright pace of the other Mercedes-powered cars, which are widely expected
to be in a class of their own as the season starts in Melbourne in a week’s
time.
On the vast changes to the regulations for 2014, the 34-year-old added: “I am
excited about the coming season. From a drivers point of view F1 cars they
are not as much fun as they were six years ago, but you learn to adapt and
you are still racing against the best drivers in the world.
“I don’t think a Red Bull will be on the front row, which is a positive thing
for the sport.
“It’s sad to say we think like that but it’s the case. They’ve been too
dominant.
“It’s going to be exciting for the sport to see a smaller team, Williams,
fighting it out at the front people will love that. And you will see
different teams coming to the top at different races.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a bad year. I think it’s going to be an
exciting year for the fans and without them we are not going to go racing.”