Unlike Mark Webber, who bluffly told Red Bull team boss Christian Horner he was leaving just 10 minutes before he publicly announced his departure, Button wants to leave on good terms.
The 2009 world champion said he was in “good talks” with the team, but this did not appear to be negotiations over a drive for next season, more how they cleanly negotiate the coming weeks. McLaren’s option on Button expires at the end of the month but he said he was not contractually bound to keep quiet.
“It’s just respectfully between the team and myself,” Button added. “That’s what you do when you’re in business with people. And when you work for a company. Over the past year we’ve got a lot closer as a team. It’s been a very difficult year for everyone and it’s brought everyone a lot closer. So, mutual respect, and I what decision we make will be good for all of. It will be the right decision.
“It’s a very different situation to 10 months ago [when he was given a last-minute reprieve by McLaren]. And I’m happy to be in the situation I’m in. I feel the whole year has brought us a lot closer together, since the end of last year.”
Button has been overwhelmed by the support from fans, imploring him to stay on, but nothing indicates that he will do so. Éric Boullier, McLaren’s racing director, and Fernando Alonso, his team-mate, visited Honda’s base in Suzuka on Wednesday, but Button was conspicuous by his absence.
Even after Sebastian Vettel was effusive in his praise, the 35-year-old smiled and joked: “I think I am going to cry now.” Hardly, ‘I’ll get you next year on track’.
Button seems a man contended; a far cry from this time last year, when he was cruelly made to wait for months to see if he had the drive. He reiterated that the joy of Formula One was not in fighting at the back – where McLaren-Honda find themselves – and that he did not know when the team would be competitive again.
“I don’t think any driver has joy when they’re not fighting for victories,” he said. “That’s what we’re here to do. It’s the challenge of fighting at the front. And the possibility. I don’t like being 10th. Or 14th. But there is the possibility of joy coming back and that is a challenge. After the Singapore Grand Prix I wasn’t joyful.”
Meanwhile, Pirelli took the bizarre step of dignifying conspiracy theories that it had given Mercedes the wrong tyres in Singapore by issuing a strident denial of the accusations. The Italian company said only the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, could tamper with the compounds, shifting the focus elsewhere.
The theory was one of many to try to explain why Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton were suddenly so far off the pace last weekend in Singapore, having been the dominant team of the last two seasons.