Button: McLaren will return to title race in 2014

Jenson Button closes the page on a very difficult year within the team McLaren. The 2009 world champion and his former teammate Sergio Pérez were never able to reach the podium with an MP4-28 lacking in performance. If the Woking team achieved its best result of the year with the Briton's fourth place and the Mexican's sixth position at the Brazilian Grand Prix last weekend, this does not erase the disappointment of Woking who chose to replace Checo with the rookie Kevin Magnussen after just one season.

The 2014 season could also be complicated for McLaren, which will be in its final year of partnership with Mercedes before moving to Honda. However, Jenson Button assured the media that the British team would be back at the forefront next year. “I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face”, comments the former world champion to the Daily Mirror. “It was a positive way to end the year, but McLaren must fight for victory. We will definitely be title contenders next year, just like Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. If you think back to 2010, I was out of contention for the Championship but not Lewis. In 2011 I was only beaten by a Red Bull driver (Sebastian Vettel) and we thus finished very close to the summit. This will obviously not be easy. We will have to face Red Bull who have done an incredible job over the last four years, but no one in the team doubts our potential for next season. »

Discover the analysis of the Brazilian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1937 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms, and from tomorrow on newsstands.